Front Range
AvalancheEric Lee · Feb 7, 2020 · Front Range
Weather
Heavily snowing at 1-2" per hour. Wind was calm, breathe 5-10mph out of the NW. At 10400ft in an E/NE facing valley.
Snowpack
18" of fresh storm slab on top of the old snow that had fallen earlier this week. Very minor crust between the two layers.
Avalanche
Wind loaded terrain on the E/NE facing slopes. Low angle terrain was unreactive to standard travel. All roll overs and small increases in slope angels over 30 degrees adjacent to ski and skin tracks saw propagating movement in the upper storm slab. Even very small sections would sluff and crack 12-18" into the new snow. Only very minor triggers were needed to make that layer slide, some small natural releases also seen. Snowpack very unstable and reactive.