Front Range
AvalancheIan Fowler · Apr 16, 2023 · Front Range
Weather
Strong winds were blowing from a generally westerly direction. This kept temperatures chilly despite the sunshine.
Snowpack
At all elevations there was fresh cold snow. This varied from about 10cm below treeline up to 30cm in some areas. The new snow remained fist hard in most areas, with just a thin soft wind skin in some areas. This snow was resting on a melt-freeze crust that was about 4 to 8 inches thick and was supportable to boots in most places. This crust was very hard to dig through. Below the crust were damp rounds that were 1 finger hard at the softest. The new snow seemed to be well bonded with the old snow surface and test slopes were not sluffing and I saw very little loose movement even in very steep terrain. Near treeline on an easterly aspect and above treeline on a northerly aspect I was getting easy propagation on Extended Column Tests down about 20cm on a storm instability. This was in fist hard snow. Despite these test results I did not see any cracking or collapsing. It seemed like it was a battle between the wind deposition and wind erosion due to the intense winds.
Avalanche
3 small wind slab avalanches in extreme terrain. Although they were small they would have pushed riders off cliffs.