Front Range
AvalancheAustin DiVesta · Nov 20, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Cold temperatures and light winds at the parking lot and continued through out the day. Winds increased to moderate as we got closer to the ridge predominantly at of the west.
Snowpack
Leaving the trailhead and traveling below treeline, we found a shallow snowpack of approximately 30-45cm. Probing around in this area, we found only one or two layers of soft-faceting snow that fell during last week's storm. In wind-sheltered terrain, we dug a snowpit on a northeast-facing slope at 11,100ft with a snow height of 50cm. This pit comprised most of soft (4 Finger and Fist hand hardness) snow; we did find a stiffer (1 Finger) melt-freeze crust about 15cm from the ground. An Extend Column Test produced a couple of propagating test results on top of the melt-freeze crust. (ECTP15 and ECTP11 at 15cm). We continued above treeline and looked at a recent avalanche on an east-facing slope. The crown of this avalanche ranged from 20 cm to 80cm in places where it stepped down into older, weaker snow. A crown profile relieved the two layers that failed during this avalanche, one in the upper 20cm of the snowpack and another approximately 65-80cm down for the surface. The upper weak layer propagated easily on near-surface facets with an Extended Column test (ECTP4), while the deeper faceted layer propagated with harder hits (ECTP24). We saw this first hand with the characteristics of this avalanche; it serves as a reminder that as we gain volume to our snowpack, a smaller avalanche can step down into older, weaker snow taking out the entire season snowpack so far.
Avalanche
A large avalanche on Point 11588 that stepped down in to older, weaker snow below a ridgeline.