Front Range
SnowpackBrian Lazar · Dec 30, 2015 · Front Range
Weather
Cold, and calm below ridges with only a modest breeze evident even up high in the alpine. Skies mostly overcast for the day and occasionally obscured with very low clouds. May have been remnants of the inversion since I never got very high today
Snowpack
Thin and weak snowpack in general, but deeper than normal in this area for this time of year. A soft midpack slab will support a person on skis, but not on foot where foot pen is to the ground off any packed trail. Ski pen was 20-30cm through the recent storm snow. Despite a somewhat worrisome structure, triggering a Persistent Slab avalanche on these aspects seems unlikely in all but heavily wind-drifted isolated features, most pronounced right around treeline.