Front Range

Avalanche

Thomas White · Feb 11, 2022 · Front Range

Weather

Guides from the Jones Pass cat skiing operation reported 6-8" overnight Thursday. Friday started with no precipitation. In the field from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm. The sky cover was Overcast. Winds were variable from light to Intense. The snow transport was variable with the winds. At times I could watch the snow accumulating faster than 1cm/min. There was no precipitation until snow started about 16:00. Precipitation increased to S2 at 18:00 in nearby Empire.

Snowpack

I skied a 1 km transect on a NE aspect from 12,500 to near treeline at 11,600 and did several quick observations as I traveled. Above treelike the snow was very wind affected with 1f to pencil hard sastrugi. The typical HS in across that zone was 200 cm. Near treeline there was a 20-25 cm deep layer of F to 4f snow. Hand and shovel shear tests showed that this surface snow slid easily on the underlying (1f) layer. The grain type at the sliding interface was small 1-2 mm facets

Avalanche

I observed a series of shallow soft slabs on an East aspect along a ridge in the Jones Pass Basin. The slabs appears to have run naturally overnight. The depth was about 25 cm.