Front Range
SnowpackAndrew Mueller · Mar 23, 2015 · Front Range
Weather
Partly Cloudy
Snowpack
Snowpack depth 185cm Aspect declination - 86 degrees before adjustment Slope angle 20 Ice layer @ 15cm & 18cm below surface, thick ice layer @ 85cm below surface (seemed to be a re-freeze of pooling melt water). Column test results: Failure @15cm below surface @ 19 hits, clean shear on burried surface hoar, failure @65cm below surface @ 24 hits, clean shear on burried surface hoar looking snow as well, but both failure layers may have been affected by the snow melt. General discussion: Dug a pit with some newbies in the middle of Butler Gultch (I volunteer at Diamond Peaks). Chose the steepest representative slope I could find. Good sheer quality on failures similar to weak layers in a winter snowpack. Snowpack was a mix of winter and spring. Ice layers seemed to be re-frozen melt. Temperature of top 2-4cm of snowpack was getting soft, but in general snowpack remained hard and cold upon our exit at 2pm. We skied some very low angle 20 degree pitches in the middle of the basin area of Butler Gultch.