Quick report
Went for an afternoon of chalk hunting in the front range. Left the rabbit lake th under s-1 mixed precip with calm winds and obscured skies. Outside of transient clearing, weather was fairly consistent. Temps remained above freezing throughout the day, all the way up to ridgelines. Although scrappy, it is still possible to ski from and to the car. As is evident from Anchorage, spatial variability is extreme. Continuous snow is limited to cross loaded gullies. Opted to dig a pit at 3k on a NE facing slope. Within the immediate area of said pit, HS ranged from 50-150cms. Given spatial variability, opted to not bother with a full profile. General structure was poor. found firm windslabs sandwiching a thin layer of preserved precip particles. Also of note, the basal snowpack is mature depth hoar. despite this structure, an extended column test only elicited an ECTN15 down 25cms at the obvious buried weak layer. Pit HS was between 80 and 95cms. Trace new snow on firm wind slab made for good turns!