Front Range

Recent avalanche on a SE facing slope on an open leeward terrain feature. Recent avalanche on Little Gravel Mountain.

Warm day, fairly sunny with scattered clouds; snow surface moist and mushy.

We didn't get any cracking or collapsing today. The height of snow is about 110 cm at the upper end of below treeline and in sheltered near treeline areas. We found about 180 cm of on near treeline wind-drifted slopes. Lower elevations below treeline (~10500 feet and lower) have seen significant warmth on all aspects and are generally less concerning. However, at the upper end of below treeline (above about 10,500 feet), particularly on northerly-facing slopes, the snow structure remains problematic. In a snowpit on a north-facing slope at 10,700 feet, we got results of ECTP30 and PST30/100END on first-hard facets buried 65 cm deep below a thick slab. In this same snowpit, we found a thin rain crust 18 cm from the surface. This was the rain at the start of the storm on February 25. This rain crust is not a concern now and would likely only be an issue in the future if we entered a cold period, when faceting could occur, or if a thick slab were built on top of it and then warmed, resulting in meltwater pooling on this crust. Near treeline we mostly dug on east-facing slopes. Although we found a similar weak layer as mentioned above, it was much stronger and capped by a 1-inch thick melt-freeze crust. It would be hard to impact this layer and to start a crack in it; you most likely would have to find a much thinner portion of the slope.