Front Range

Avalanche

Anonymous · May 15, 2019 · Front Range

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Weather

Mostly sunny and hot with Westerly winds above ~13000ft, no wind lower down from ridge line.

Snowpack

Crusts/freeze on East faces below 13000ft nearly or completely melted by 10am. Multiple collapsing/whumpfing observed on the East aspects which appeared to be the top ~10" of old storm snow collapsing on top of old melt/freeze crusts. N/NE slopes above 13000ft only had a hint of heat affect even at 1 pm (mix of soft, dry sastrugi and smooth wind slab).

Avalanche

Observed one wet slab avalanche come out of steep, rocky E/SE terrain just North of Dead Dog Couloir. Appeared to be a wet loose avalanche that triggered multiple pockets of wet slab, but loud rockfall heard during start of event could have been the trigger or just a result of the avalanche.