Front Range
SnowpackNick Barlow · Jan 16, 2018 · Front Range
Weather
Beautiful day with comfortable touring temperatures. An occasional puff of west winds. Observed pluming off the high peaks as I drove towards Estes Park.
Snowpack
I traveled on NW through NE to SE-facing slopes N/BTL. No cracking, collapsing, or signs of recent avalanches. Lowest elevation slopes were mostly facets/depth hoar, with a low-density cap of recent storm snow. At higher elevations BTL, the snowpack was deeper than 100cm in many areas. Recent storm snow BTL had little slab quality. NTL, recent storm snow formed a 4F-1F slab. The middle snowpack was strong structurally, consisting of 1F rounds. Layer of depth hoar and basal facets started 50-60cm above the ground. Although large and weak, these grains are starting to round and strengthen. About 25cm from the ground, density of the depth hoar layer increased, as did mixed melt form grains.