Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Mar 11, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
How rare is a day at 12000 feet in the James Peak Wilderness when one gets to take gloves off to enjoy some Swiss chocolate and spend more than 2 minutes at the summit? I do need to replenish my sunscreen supply.
Snowpack
BTL there was generally 100cm or more of snow and other than a weak basal layer in some areas this snow felt strong. Near Treeline was the deepest snowpack with over 3 meters of snow in many areas. This elevation did have a thin wind slab at the surface that failed easily on Compression Tests (CT) but was thin and resting on recently fallen snow grains, so this layer should quickly bond with warm temperatures. There was a dust layer at this elevation but it was not reactive or very obvious. Above treeline, the snowpack was around 2 meters deep and generally felt strong in many areas when probed. We did find a very obvious layer of facets that were rounding about 70cm deep on a northeast aspect, and although this was reactive in CT, large column tests did not show any reactivity, and when we moved to a southeast aspect at the same elevation, this layer wasn't present.