Front Range
AvalancheERIC TOLLUND · Mar 26, 2024 · Front Range
Weather
Strong to intense winds from the West. OVC to OBS skies with brief periods of strong sun as pockets would open up in the cloud cover. Generally S1 with brief periods of S2.
Snowpack
In assessing the new snow we dug numerous hand pits and generally found a good bond at the MF Crust which was anywhere from 4-18" below the new snow. This MF Crust had large facets below and varied in width from 5 - 15+cm as we ascended and traversed along the generally N and NE facing ridge at BTL and NTL/ATL interface. We found reactive storm slabs where the snow was the deepest with shooting cracks off ski tips as well as propagation along small wind lips and rolls where were able to trigger failures by walking across these features.
Avalanche
We discovered remnants of an avalanche that was presumed to have occurred sometime around March 15th as this was the last potential cycle of avalanches. Since the crown and debris were not visible from the valley floor we presumed this avalanche was not noticed until we came across it today. There were large HS chunks in the debris and the toe of the avalanche ran into large timber. There was new snow covering the debris but some of the crown was still visible in the cliff bands above. This was located in the cliffs and rocks to the lookers right of the prominent slide path, on one's left side as they head up the W. Fork. This large slide path is often referred to as "The Dragon" and the peak as "Sunshine Peak." This was approx. 11,900', ENE aspect and the start zone was estimated at 40°. We classified this slide at HS-U-R1-D2 and estimate it was 300' wide by 500' long to the toe of the debris in the timber at the bench. I was not able to get a good picture due to the poor visibility.