Front Range
AvalancheAnonymous · Nov 2, 2017 · Front Range
Snowpack
Location - right below the ridgeline on the saddle between Grays and Torreys Peak Elevation - 13,700 feet Aspect - East Snowpack varied between 70-90cm deep at this location. The top 40cm of the snowpack was a windslab. The windslab was sitting on a thick layer of melt freeze crust (very hard, could not get a probe though it and was hard to shovel). Underneath the crust, there were some facets. Did a compression test (CT3 Q1 on the windslab-crust interface). The wind slab portion of the column slid off like a sudden planar would on an ECT. After seeing that, we quickly got off the slope and changed our descent plan. There was way more snow up there than we expected!
Avalanche
No significant avalanche activity observed. There were small, natural sloughs on north east to east aspects above 12,000 feet.