Front Range
SnowpackAmy Farnham · Mar 27, 2012 · Front Range
Weather
Clear skies with strong solar radiotion and steady westerly breezes before noon. In the alpine, air temps stayed below zero until well after noon. Breeze stopped and high thin clouds came in in the late afternoon, causing a quick warmup ~4pm
Snowpack
Solid freeze overnight down to 10,000 ft. Cooler temperatures and steady westerly breezes kept the snow surface cool until early afternoon. Steep SE facing slopes warmed up in the top 6 inches, but remained locked up and dry below. HS on a SE slope at 12000 150cm, boot pen of 25cm. Top 50cm of the snowpack has transitioned to corn. Steep N facing slopes remain dry and wintery. HS 170cm at 12500. Here, 30cm of softer 4-finger wind-pressed powder is well bonded to the stiffer, 1-finger midpack slab. Midpack is a faily uniform 1F slab of small rounds, unreactive in tests. Basal facets are rounding here. On N'ly slopes between 11,500 and 13,300, the basal facet layer is thinner an less-developed than on N'ly slopes near and below treeline. Solid freeze last night and cooler temps today kept below-treeline slopes supportable on N-E-SE apsects until 4pm down to 10,000ft. Skied steep N'ly and SE;ly shots above TL with excellent surface conditions and no signs of instability