Front Range
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Jan 5, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Beautiful warm bluebird day. Below treeline, winds were calm, and as I climbed to about 12,000ft, winds were light to moderate. The surrounding mountains showed signs of snow moving off ridgelines.
Snowpack
I traveled on east through south-facing slopes today, mostly below and near treeline. I found snow heights of around 50-100cm on most of these slopes. Without much surprise, most of these slopes hold older, weak snow from November near the ground. I only noticed localized cracking underfoot and one larger collapse towards an open meadow around 11,600ft. Several snow pits revealed propagating test results with Extended Column Tests. East-facing slopes, both below and near treeline, produced moderate results (ECTP17@38cm-Below and ECTP19@38cm-Near). One thing to note is that much of the below treelline snowpack is softer, with the hardest layer being 4 Finger on the Hand Hardness Scale, while near treeline, the hardest layer is a 1 Finger layer. On the south-facing slope, I dug on around 12,000ft, a slightly different structure of the snowpack. Strong winds from the previous day and evening created a stiff slab that rests on top of weak snow in the upper 20cm of the snowpack. These test results were much more surprising than the east-facing with easy to moderate results. ECTP2 at 93cm from the ground where the stiff 1 Finger slab rests on top of Fist hard snow below. A deeper ECTP12 at 33cm on a melt-freeze crust with facets above it.