Front Range

Snowpack

Ryan Zarter · Jan 25, 2025 · Front Range

Weather

Overcast skies, periods of light snow with little accumulation, and calm to light south winds. There was a wind-affected 5" of new snow from the last 24hrs at the BP study plot.

Snowpack

I saw no obvious signs of instability in my travels today. On small, wind-affected features I could get a little cracking, but it extended no further than my skis. The Hs on east-facing slopes below treeline was around a meter deep. You can still feel a slab probing around here, but it is getting fairly soft. Near treeline on east and southeast-facing slopes the slab is more pronounced. Hs on these aspects at this elevation band ranged from 1m to over 1.5m. Digging on a southeast-facing slope I found a 40cm thick slab sitting on a stout melt-freeze crust. Above the slab there is another, recently formed melt-freeze crust that is capped by recent new snow and wind load. ECTN results below the upper melt-freeze crust. ECTP results after 35 or more taps under the lower melt-freeze crust.