Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · May 27, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Sunny and cold in the morning and large cumulonimbus development by noon. We did not get rain.
Snowpack
We left the trailhead at 7 am, and the surface was firmly frozen. By 10 am, when we skied down ski pen was just about an inch, with some pockets of deeper snow and firm snow in shaded corners. There were deep runnels lower down on the slopes that were over 2 feet deep. Skiing was awesome corn on less steep slopes facing northeast and east. Areas with white snow still were the most suspect, and we ski-cut a small loose avalanche where the white snow from previous storms or maybe recent snow sat on top of the dusty layers below. We observed two shallow slab avalanches but were unsure how fresh they were. We did not observe any instability on similar aspects.
Avalanche
Saw two small, 6" crowns in steep terrain that may have run due to rain, previous snow, or possibly from thundersnow overnight. We ski cut a southerly roll around noon that was steep and had white snow and a small pocket 0.5 pulled out.