Front Range

Snowpack

Colin Mitchell · Feb 2, 2011 · Front Range

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Weather

Clear and sunny. Bitterly cold at the valley bottom, warmer up high. Winds went from calm to moderate after noon. From the WSW.

Snowpack

Widespread surface hoar formation at treeline. Large crystals 10-12mm. Snowpack fairly solid and homogenous with about 1 meter of rounds with some crusts on top, and a meter or so of rounding facets and crusts under that. Compression and deep tap tests revealed no concerns. Good bonding evident in all layers except old snow/new snow interface. About 10-15 cm of new (Monday) snow on top. Very little to no slab formation in new snow, but not well bonded to slick crust below. Surface hoar seemed linked more to elevation than aspect, I found it on East aspects as well. Always right at 11,000-11,200.