Front Range
SnowpackLucas Mouttet · Dec 23, 2016 · Front Range
Weather
Weather was mostly cloudy trending to partly cloudy from dawn to early afternoon, wind was milder than expected even on ridges. Ridges (~11,500ft) had 15-20mph winds with slightly higher gusts.
Snowpack
HST was 4-6" at 10,000' with 6-10" at 11,500' (NE aspect). Storm snow sitting on week-old wind slab in most places we looked above treeline. Fresh wind slabs on top of storm snow varied from 1cm to 10cm in alpine areas. We did experience one significant collapse at 11,200', NE aspect, 35deg on thinner than average snowpack. See attached pic for cracking seen, which spanned approx. 15 meters around the tour group. The cracking extended down through 4cm wind slab to base of storm snow, approx 8" deep at that elevation. Some recent (last 2 days?) cornice collapsing noted, NE aspects, as wide as 10 meters, did not cause propagation in storm snow.