Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Dec 31, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
A fine day with some clouds that moved into the area towards the afternoon. Overall a mint day in the mountains.
Snowpack
This area received some of that early October snow, but due to the burn scar, much of the snow melted out until we finally started receiving snow in November. Then, that warm spell in early December allowed for a melt-freeze crust (5cm) to form, which varies in size across the aspects. When cautiously traveling off-trail, you would feel your sled sink almost to the ground through the facets. On a wind-loaded northeast-facing slope, we found an 83 cm snow height with very soft snow on top and a denser mid-pack (4-finger to 1-finger hard) slab that rested on 23 cm of facets at the ground. We did get a propagating Extended Column Test (ECT20@23), while another pit about 20 ft away did not produce any propagation (ECTX). I also found a more east-facing slope and a similar structure with a thicker (5 cm ) melt-freeze crust, with depth hoar growing on its top and bottom sides. An ECT produced moderate results (ECTP17@13cm) and non-propagating results (ECTN21@35cm). We didn’t notice any other signs of instability like cracking or collapsing and did not see any avalanches.