Front Range
AvalancheAustin DiVesta · Feb 7, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Sunny, warm and clear all day. Some light wind once above treeline, but for the most part calm.
Snowpack
I traveled on north through east-facing slopes today near and above treeline. I found a variety of stiff wind-drifted snow to soft snow from the weekend. These areas could be several hundred feet away or just five feet from each other. I noticed that the top five inches or so were the most prone to breaking. Several small test slopes had small dinner plates pulled away from the slope. On an extended column test of 110cm, this upper part of the snowpack easily pulled out before I could start tapping on my column. As for anything deeper, there was still no initiation, but there is still large depth hoar near the ground. One thing to note here is that there is a crust right now that will provide an excellent bed surface if we get any more load on it. A propagation saw test at 96cm produced an unlikely result (PST 75/100 SR); this is most likely due to lack of cohesion in this small slab.
Avalanche
I saw a couple of small avalanches on the east face of the Current Creek headwall. On a southeast slope I saw a Dry Loose avalanche that then entrained a large wind slab below it.