Front Range

Snowpack

I traveled to below an old crown line in the upper part of Sister 2 from an avalanche triggered during mitigation in early January for snowpack observations. My hope was to find something representative of the post-mitigation snowpack in the area. I found a snowpack that ranged from 50cm to a little over a meter. Where I dug the snowpack was just over a meter deep and I found three hard slabs with facets sandwiched in between each. I was able to get repeatable propagating ECT results under the upper slab (ECTP23 and ECTP22), about 30cm below the surface. The snow surface where I traveled in the Sisters consisted of new snow/wind broken precip particles mixed with faceted grains. In some places this was drifted up to 15cm deep while in others it was scoured to the top of the uppermost hard layer. In less wind-affected areas on the back side of the Sisters Ridge (SE to E aspects NTL) I found the snow surface consisted of new snow mixed with near surface facets. This layer was up to 15cm deep.