Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · Jan 13, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
A perfect day to be in the alpine. Sunny and calm.
Snowpack
Possibly the best thing I can say about the snowpack in this area is variability. I would probe 2 meters of snow and move over just a few meters, and the grass would be sticking out in one place. In an effort to summarize some observations, I will work around the compass. North and east had the deepest snowpack but also the weakest base. There is a layer cake of soft layers with very firm slabs above and below. I was able to get some failures in CT but nothing in the ECT. I suspect this was due to very thick, substantial pencil slabs in the area I dug. The surface in sheltered areas was 3mm surface hoar. South ATL was firm to the ground when probed and very variable in depth 0 to 100cm. The surface was forming a thin sun crust. West at and above treeline was bare. Below treeline, the snow was about 60cm of fist and four-finger snow with no slab.
Avalanche
I think this avalanche was a couple of days old. It looked like a small wind slab.