Front Range
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Dec 13, 2015 · Front Range
Weather
High clouds on the east side of the Divide gave way to bluebird by 10am. 18 degrees at 11am (Loveland Basin SNOTEL). Felt a lot warmer in the sun with no wind near and below treeline. Above treeline was a different story with winds 10-20 mph and gusts up to 40 mph at 10am. See short video of wind in attached media.
Snowpack
In limited travel today it appeared that any storm snow instability settled out. No cracking in new snow in non wind affected terrain.--- The big change to the snowpack today was the wind. A lot of snow being drifted on to southwest, south and southeast slopes. We did not get near any steeper slopes to check sensitivity of slabs but from loading patterns I would assume that thick slabs were forming. On the low angle slopes we skied, we experienced a lot of cracking in wind slabs, and trapdoor skiing.--- As far as Persistent Slab avalanche problem, status quo, except for southeast slopes that received a significant load today from wind.
Avalanche
Observed some small (sz 1) natural Loose Dry avalanches around the Loveland Pass area.