Front Range
SnowpackJustin Swantek · Dec 30, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Warm and mostly clear until late afternoon. Wind gusts up to 20 mph near the ridge, increasing throughout the day.
Snowpack
Wednesday’s storm delivered 4-8” of medium density snow to the southern Guanella Pass area. In non-wind affected spots, this did little to the avalanche danger – there is still no slab sitting on the 1-2’ of facets and travel in these areas results in sinking to the ground. Near ridgelines and on open slopes that are exposed to wind, there is a cohesive slab above the same weak facets. As we travelled up, the slabs became larger, deeper, and more supportive, resulting in larger whumphs (the largest extending ~70’ wide). We dug a pit in a similar location to 2 weeks ago – the depth hoar has becomes slightly more firm and it is taking the same amount of force to cause failures despite the load from the last storm. However, columns were still breaking cleanly and popping out of the pit, so it still has a lot of healing to do. ATL, only wind-sheltered slopes on the NW-NE-SE aspects harbor any snow. Many of these slopes had stout wind slabs before the November dry spell, so they likely have buried facets now.