Glen Alps / Ballpark

Spent the morning and early afternoon touring from the Glen Alps trailhead to the Ballpark via Little O'Malley. On our tour we found a thin, variable snowpack with a very firm surface slab sitting on top of facets at the ground. Above treeline the firm surfaces made travel difficult, the sharp and pointy things are recommended if you go out hiking or skiing in the front range. A slip and uncontrolled fall was a very real hazard throughout the day. 

No red flags observed throughout our tour.

Snow Surfaces: Down low we found mostly breakable crust and some soft snow near trees. During most of the day we traveled on very firm surface conditions and bare ground. Thin snowpack and firm surface conditions dominate the area. We did not dig a formal pit today. Through travel tests we found poor snowpack structure, similar to what we have been finding throughout the front range all season. It is a widespread set-up (where the snow is) of a very hard slab sitting on top of weak facets at the ground. 

With recent weather consisting of little snowfall and warm temperatures, we are seeing, and continue to expect, the snowpack to keep slowly gaining strength and facets to slowly round.

Additionally, with the very firm surface conditions in this area, we recommend bringing the sharp pointy things if you plan on skiing or hiking. Microspikes, crampons, ski-crampons, whippits etc...