Front Range

Snowpack

Snowpack going isothermal on these aspects. Very strong solar radiation intensified by high thin cloud cover. One partner said "This is the kind of day you sunburn the roof of your mouth". Sunny areas below treeline would not support our weight on skis. Ski pen ranged from 20 to 60 cm in spots when we left the skin track in these areas. Snowshoes penetrating 30-60 cm. Snow surface at 11800 where we dug our profiles, had about 3 cm of corn, with ~ 15 cm of moist snow below that. T20 -1. Snow temps were 0 degrees at the surface and near the ground with midpack temps ranging between -1 and -2. Snowpack under the moist snow characterized by a 60 cm thick 1F-P slab with several icy crusts mixed in, above 63 cm of 3 mm depth hoar. Some rounding in the depth hoar evident, but still reactive to tests. CT 21 SC,CT 22 SC, ECTP 30 SC, all failing on the depth hoar/slab interface 77cm down.