Front Range

Below treeline there is consistently 1.2 to 1.5 meters of snow. This snow varied from completely faceted in some areas, and in other more open wind-exposed regions, there was a progressive right-side-up feel. We investigated an avalanche on a ENE slope at around 11,000 feet. The avalanche debris was around 1.5 meters deep and was made up of large, hard chunks. There were multiple crowns indicating a step-down, and at the deepest was probably 2 to 2.5 meters deep. I would describe the areas as steep and rocky with obvious signs of previous wind-drifting. We probed on the looker's left flank and found a progressively harder snowpack until the lowest 30cm, which felt very soft. We just probed. On a safer slope about 200 meters to the lookers right side of the avalanche, we found a tough midpack knife and pencil hard but a weak and scary facet crust combination at the base. This failed easily in Extended Column Tests and Propagation Saw Tests. We dug in an area that was shallower intentionally. Just 10 feet away from our location, the snowpack was over 2 meters in one direction, and in the other direction, it was dirt. We did not observe any instability in the new snow, which seemed fairly well bonded to the surface below and was not slabby.

Front Range

Weather

Snowpack

Avalanche