Front Range

Snowpack

More southerly-facing slopes below treeline continue to lack a lot of snow. We traveled mainly on an east-facing slope that produced some localized cracking underfoot as you stepped off the skin track, but nothing shooting more than about three feet from your skis. Once we turned the corner and got into the east-facing slopes in Watrous Gulch, proper snow consistently became deeper, around 40cm to 70cm. After a couple of quick hand pits, we noticed a small 5cm slab forming in open areas at the valley bottom in more open areas. When we went to dig our snowpit, we got boot penetration to the ground, which was 69cm. An Extended Column Test did not produce any propagation results (ECTN16 at 15cm). I also did a Propagation Saw Test which had slightly more interesting results of breaking to the end of the column (PST 45/100 END). In this particular spot, there was no significant slab built at 11,700ft. However, as snow continues to blow the new snow around, expect the snow to become denser underfoot, creating the slab. I had one significant collapse in a shallower sport of the snowpack next to drifted snow. This collapse created shooting cracks that went about 30 feet around my skis. Our visibility was not great today, and very cold temperatures kept us from getting above treeline. Still, with the north winds deposited and the recent snow on the southerly slopes, we will need to continue monitoring when the next storm arrives.