Front Range
SnowpackIan Fowler · Dec 5, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
It was a warm morning with blustery winds often blowing from a northeasterly direction. Snow was falling steadily and views of higher terrain was obscured.
Snowpack
Below treeline the snowpack was beginning to become supportable but was still punchy with a one finger slab of varying thickness over facets on north through east to south aspects. On column tests, the snowpack was failing on isolation. Very little cracking or collapsing was noted. Near treeline on a northeast aspect the snowpack was a layer cake of wind-packed firm slab layers and facets in between. The area I dug was representative of deeper wind-loaded areas where people would be tempted to ride. There was a lot of variability in snow depth with grass sticking up, and then 5m away, I was probing one meter plus.