Front Range

Avalanche

Jeff Welch · Apr 18, 2016 · Front Range

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Weather

Skies ranged from broken to overcast throughout day. Temps in the upper 20s. Showery, with snowfall rates up to S2 at times. Calm winds.

Snowpack

2-3ft of new snow depending on aspect and location. New snow was right side up, increasing in density deeper in the snowpack. Very hard suncrust under new snow on all aspects. Skied W, NW, N, and NE aspects up to 40 degrees near and below treeline with no cracking, collapsing, or other signs of instability. Found surprisingly little drifting in this zone at these elevations, but wind transport did appear to be more widespread above treeline.

Avalanche

Some minor D1 dry loose sloughs in terrain steeper than 40 degrees. Some of the open shots in Hells Half Acre appeared to have sloughed during the storm, probably on Saturday.