Front Range
AvalancheColeman Kane · Apr 24, 2022 · Front Range
Weather
Temps in high 20’s, ridge-top winds were light from the west and southwest. S-1 from 0900-1100.
Snowpack
Storm totals ranged from 0” to 20” depending on wind deposition. Beneath the storm snow we found a pencil hard melt freeze crust on north and easterly aspects at all elevation bands. The deeper drifts of storm snow came in right side up and we did not observe any cracking/collapsing within the new snow.
Avalanche
We caught up with a party of three who were in radio communication with a friend who was booting up the lookers left couloir of the Three Sisters. We overheard radio chatter from the other skier who said there was 20” of new snow in the couloir. The party of three skinned up to the base of the Three Sisters and began to transition to boot pack. We continued higher into the basin and stopped to eat and rip skins. We watched as a big powder cloud came out the lookers right Sister. We thought it was a natural release but saw a snowboarder emerge from the cloud before traversing over to the rest of his party. SS-ARu-R2-D1.5 East aspect above tree line. From below crown looked to be 1-2’ and it broke wall to wall across the couloir.