Front Range
AvalanchePaul Rogers · Jan 24, 2019 · Front Range
Weather
Temps 5-8F yet windchill brought it below zero. Westerly winds, 20-25mph. Obscured skies most of the day with brief periods of broken skies. Precip S-1 most of the day. Moderate snow transport near/above TL and occasionally transporting snow below TL.
Snowpack
10-15 cm new snow from most recent storm. 30-35cm from recent cycle of storms. Below TL the snowpack is very weak with foot pen to ground, and difficult trail breaking. Mid pack slab started showing up as you approached TL. Collapsing and whumping throughout the tour on S-NE aspects, all elevations, with occasional shooting cracks of <1m. Primary snowpack observation today was recent wind slab formation S-NE aspects, near/above TL. Did not do a profile yet performed some hand shear tests (easy results) and stomped around on numerous, wind-loaded test slops. Observed clean planar fractures 20-25 down on small 1-2mm facets, and non planar/irregular fracture 30-35 down. Wind slabs near and just above TL were primarily 4F (as you go higher stiffening to 1F) in hardness. Could not get the test slopes to propagate very far, 2-4 feet, but expect that to change as the slabs stiffen.
Avalanche
None observed today - weather obscured our views of the high alpine slopes.