Front Range
AvalancheZach Taylor · Feb 22, 2015 · Front Range
Weather
Mostly cloudy but the cloud ceiling was high so visibility was decent. Cold temps throughout the day and mild to moderate winds were present.
Snowpack
The snow surface was comprised primarily of stellar and decomposing snow crystals. The snow seemed to us to be on the heavy side for the cold temperatures we have had during this storm cycle. A punchy wind slab was noted in one isolated terrain feature on a northeast aspect. Ski pole probing revealed some typical for winter density differences and strong over weak layering, though the snow pack did not seem very reactive to our two groups at any point today. Only very minor cracking < or equal to 12 inches propagation from ski tip at the most and only in a few small areas was noted. No whumping or other signs of instability were noted on today's tour. Some potential wind slabs were observed above the nitro chutes when we toured by from the trees below the run out. Our group felt that a few areas seemed a bit "pillowed" above the nitro chutes but otherwise no other overt signs of wind slab were observed and there were a decent few pretty bold tracks in the area.
Avalanche
No natural or human triggered avalanches were noted on today's tour. We had decent views of the Nitro chutes, upper and lower 110s, 80s/90s, the Postage Stamp, the Ten Little Indians, the Current Creek Bench, and the Fingers today at different points throughout today's tour and no avalanches either human triggered or natural were noted. We attempted to trigger avalanches on small test slopes on NW to NE aspects and had no results.