Front Range
AvalancheEthan Davis · May 11, 2015 · Front Range
Weather
Brisk at the car in the morning ~28F warming to ~42F by early afternoon. Mostly sunny with some clouds clinging to the Continental Divide in the morning. Calm below treeline with increasing wind near and above treeline. Some light blowing snow, but it looks like most of it was already moved around overnight or on Sunday.
Snowpack
Below Treeline: Sunnier aspects are melted out up to ~10,500 ft. Shaded slopes held much more snow at the same elevation. 25 cm supportable crusts broke down quickly by mid morning giving way to a mostly wet/moist pack. Near Treeline: 30 cm of moist new snow capped 20 cm of very weak and wet snow. Below this an old crust was mostly broken down and also wet. From here to as deep as I could probe was very stiff (K) moist snow. Snowpack depths of over 250 cm in most places. Above Treeline: Highly variable coverage due to wind scouring. Surface snow was moist in the sun. The area I was in was mostly hammered by wind along the ridge. Sastrugi and stiff drifts softened by recent snowfall.
Avalanche
(5/11) Several Wet Loose avalanches originating from steep rocky terrain observed in the afternoon on above treeline east-facing slopes. (5/10) Two slab avalanches above treeline below cornices on southeast-facing slopes.