Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · May 10, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Temperature was 32F when I left the truck at 7.30am. Skies were clear and winds were Moderate from the South East.
Snowpack
There was enough of a freeze overnight that boot penetration was 0cm at the start of the day but was about five inches by 10.30 am. On northerly aspects above treeline the snow had a 10cm melt-freeze crust over pencil hard rounds. There were two obvious dust layers both of which had ice layers just above them. Although the whole snowpack was moist (I was able to make a snowball from the basal facets) it did not look like meltwater had percolated very deeply. Only 600ft lower in elevation at treeline the surface crust had broken down by 10.30 am. There were no obvious ice layers but the upper dust layer, 20cm deep, was reactive in compression tests on facets towards the top of the layer. At this elevation, the snowpack had an obvious line 50cm below the surface that was the water seepage line. Cornices were looking big, drippy, and saggy. I saw some small collapses and one that had started to fracture off with two obvious fracture lines well back from the edge.
Avalanche
There were lots of wet loose avalanches from aspects ranging from north east round to south. Mostly small and some the result of Cornice fall.