Front Range
AvalancheMike Soucy · Mar 8, 2017 · Front Range
Weather
Mostly sunny east of the Divide, mostly cloudy west of the Divide. Moderate winds near treeline, strong winds above treeline. Temperature in the 20's at 11,000'
Snowpack
The wind has obviously done a number on the snowpack recently. Surfaces above treeline range from eroded tracks/sastrugi to windboard. Near treeline, it's more of a mixed bag from sun and wind crusts to pockets of wind-pressed cold snow. Below treeline, less wind affect exists. Today, from 10,000-11,000' on east and south aspects, we observed windslabs from 10-30cm thick. These 'popped' fairly easily on DF grains below and ran quickly on an old crust, but were not propagating across terrain and limited to the vicinity of the skier. On south aspects above TL, we found a crust/facet combination buried 30-60cm down that produced planar shears and failed in moderate compression.
Avalanche
None observed.