Front Range
Snowpackmarkus beck · Feb 5, 2012 · Front Range
Weather
Clear skies becoming broken in the afternoon with isolated short waves of light snowfall. Calm to light winds becoming light with occasional moderate gusts on ridgetops; changing directions. No significant windloading. Temps were cool but significantly colder in the shade. Radiation felt moderate to strong.
Snowpack
Snowpack structure consists of several strong (1F and P which are buried thin crusts and/or old windslabs) over weak layers (F and 4F facets) on top of a thick layer of very large DH. This structure is still very weak though seems to have lost some of its energy compared to the mid January timeframe. Several significant collapses, the largest about 100x100ft at treeline. All collapses were below to at treeline in shaded areas where the snow was colder. Failure layer always was in large DH near the ground. Not able to produce any avalanching on test slopes despite stomping around trigger points. During a snow profile (HS 77cm) near below treeline on ESE (26dgr, open glade, little windload), got a CT10&14 both Q1 sudden collapse within the DH near the ground, an ECTP15 sudden collapse within that same layer, and a PST40,100 (arr) also within that same layer. Further, CT4Q1 17cm down on a 1cm melt crust and a PST30,100 (arr) on that same layer - the ECT did not produce a result on that crust layer. The deal: A) below treeline, the snowpack is readily prone to failure and propagation in specific areas- open glades- and could produce small to medium SS on slopes approaching 35 and steeper. B) around treeline, the snowpack is most reactive especially on N-E-S and avalanches may be triggered on slopes approaching 35 and steeper. C) above treeline, the slabs have hardened to P and K and are hard to trigger but seem to be able to propagate over longer distances if a fracture initiates. The morale: This snowpack makes me uncomfortable and I won't throw my life on most steeper slopes. The snowpack structure remains very weak everywhere though the instability signs screaming in your face have become significantly less widespread. Any bridging found particularly in the alpine is unreliable. The good news: the landscape is littered with old avalanches and most of them have not quite reloaded to the point where they could avalanche again. If skiing steeper lines, those might provide a reasonable option, though unfortunately, not all of those avalanches slid near the ground and I have found instabilities in some of those old bedsurfaces.