Front Range

Avalanche

Mike Cooperstein · Feb 9, 2017 · Front Range

Weather

Very windy day above treeline. Any snow from the previous 24 hours had been blown away. No snow was available to move at any elevation. Temperatures near and below treeline reached into the high thirties.

Snowpack

Above treeline some old very hard wind slabs still linger. Most of these slabs are very hard and over one meter thick at the ridge line but taper quickly lower and towards the edges of the starting zone. In the near treeline elevation band the snowpack is deep and strong. The top 3-5 cm were moist by 1:00pm on southerly and easterly-facing aspects. Most of the snowpack is composed of rounded grains or facets going rounded. We performed multiple snowpack tests with no interesting results.

Avalanche

http://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=45370