Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Feb 12, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
It was very windy till about 2pm which was building a very cohesive slab at the surface. Sunny and below freezing temperatures.
Snowpack
Below the treeline, I was often punching through on skis to the ground, and the boot pen was always to the ground (60 -80cm) deep. Surface snow was unaffected by the wind. As I popped out of the trees the consistency of snow coverage decreased with lots of scouring. I dug on easterly aspects near and above the treeline as these were the only places I was able to find snow. Snow depths in drifted areas were a little over a meter and consisted of basal facets, a mostly pencil/1 finger mid-pack, and a wind slab at the surface. In the area, this slab was up to 15cm thick and was very breakable and variable. A PST on a thicker layer of wind-drifted snow gave 60/90 End results and Extended Column Test (ECT) failure on isolation. ECT tests on the whole snowpack resulted in moderate and hard sudden collapses at the ground.