Front Range
SnowpackDom Rickicki · Feb 22, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Occluded sky, Snow rate of around S-1 most of the morning.
Snowpack
We started the day heading up the DT Apron and felt good enough about the snowpack to boot towards Dead Elk. On the 30 degree slopes just above the normal transition spot at the top of the apron we felt some old slab formation below the new snow and dug in to look at it. We found about 60cms of deposited snow from the previous storms that was similar density throughout the layer. Below this was older pen+ windboard. No signs of faceting in this deposited snow. Quick ECT's resulted in Hard level Breaks. While shoveling out the columns we did find a 3 inch slab in the upper pack that sheared off on a planar surface, but In two tests we never saw this layer propagate and we felt it was within our risk tolerance to boot into the lower part of Dead Elk and transition a quarter way up at a small cliff spot. New snow was light and non-cohesive. 5-8inches deep. Skiing was mostly dust on crust for the majority of the tour. Rocks were buried and invisible in the lower apron band proved to be a hazard in that area.