Front Range
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Nov 15, 2020 · Front Range
Weather
Gusty winds continued especially near and above treeline. Little snow left to transport.
Snowpack
Traveled on easterly slopes below and near treeline. Some shooting cracks were observed in the new wind-drifted snow and I got one small collapse on a wind-loaded terrain feature. The snowpack is generally supportable to skis. Many areas are wind effected and the top 6 to 8" of snow is a one-finger to pencil hard wind slab. Below this slab is softer four-finger hard snow. In extended column tests I got propagating results in the soft snow layer beneath the wind slab. At the ground there is a layer of very small (.25 mm) facets. Test results ranged from no propagation on this layer to propagation with over 25 taps. The layer is really thin, small-grained, and moist. A large load could collapse this layer but in general it is no where near as weak as the basal layer on northerly slopes.