Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · May 15, 2025 · Front Range
Weather
Southeast winds were strong and keeping surfaces cool. Skies were broken with some periods of strong sunshine.
Snowpack
Below treeline there was about 4 to 6 inches of new snow. This snow was not well bonded to the crust below but there was no slab. It was easy to push the new snow with skis but it wouldn't move much unless you were on slopes steeper than 40 degrees. Near Treeline the snowpack was a little deeper and more slabby but any areas with cracking snow were very isolated. Above treeline the new snow was about 12 inches on slopes that were getting loaded by the wind. The new snow was easily sliding off the old crust in hand and shovel shears. In column test the slab would fail but not propagate. In some areas there was a thin slab on the surface that would fail on isolation. The thickness of this slab was increasing. On southerly aspects there was only about 3 to 4 inches of new snow. Later in the day this had a nasty breakable crust on the surface. There were some small wet loose avalanches in southerly terrain but the shed cycle was very limited.