Front Range
SnowpackRyan Zarter · Dec 8, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Periods of light snow while I was out on my tour. About 2" of fresh snow fell overnight. Calm winds and temps in the teens.
Snowpack
The snowpack on east and north aspect near treeline on Loveland Pass was still pretty talkative today. I had moderate localized collapsing on east aspects where I traveled. On north aspects I had moderate collapsing, with a slope-wide collapse and shooting cracks in Sister 2 Hi that cracked throughout much of the start zone. The snowpack in this area--that had not seen mitigation or previous avalanche activity--consisted of a 1F slab over depth hoar. Propagating ECT results at the slap/depth hoar interface. Hs varied from a 30cm to 60cm in more drifted areas. Near the top of Sister 6, which has seen mitigation and previous avalanche activity this season, Hs ranged from 10cm to 45cm in more drifted areas and there was not much indication of a continuous slab present. I suspect drifting--and there for slab formation--may be a bit more significant further down in the path. Sister 1 looked similar to Sister 6.