Front Range
AvalancheDom Francks · Mar 29, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
It was nearly still, and temperatures were in the 40s. We believe these conditions contributed to a rapidly warming snowpack. Before we descended, we noticed early signs of warming - sluff and rollerballs coming off of the SE facing slopes.
Snowpack
Before we descended, we noticed early signs of warming - sluff and rollerballs coming off of the SE facing slopes. As we descended, the snowpack rapidly warmed at lower elevations. The avalanche occurred on an interface of unknown character.
Avalanche
While descending the SE face of the ridge between Rogers Pass lake and Heart Lake, we noticed that the snow was rapidly warming as we dropped elevation. When skiing over a convexity, we triggered a D2 avalanche that we believe to be a wet slab, though it could have been a warming wind slab. It propagated 20-30 feet across and ran ~200 feet to the base of the drainage. The elevation was 11800'.