Field Report

Front Range - CO

2025/05/09
Lat: 39.907, Lon: -105.682
Backcountry Area: Front Range
Author: Ian Fowler
Organization: Forecaster, CAIC

Report Information

Observation Summary

Most steep south, southeast and many east aspects have shed. I found the deepest snow, up to 2 feet of settled storm snow, on north and northwest in crossloaded gullies. This snow areas was mostly cold and dry and is the main concern for larger wet avalanches. I could see someone starting riding a couloir at 13,000ft where the snow is totally dry and cold still and part way down getting into a wetter area and triggering a large wet slide. I didn't observe any Wind Slabs. We still need a couple more days of warm and sunny weather to see the snow transition and Loose Wet activity to stop.

Route Description

We went up the east face of Radio Beacon and down the south face.

Avalanches

Saw an avalanche
i
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Date # Elev Asp Type Trig SizeR SizeD Problem Type Location
05/08/2025
1 TL E WL N R1 D1.5 Loose Wet
05/08/2025
2 >TL SE WL N R1 D1.5 Loose Wet
05/08/2025
2 >TL E WL AS R1 D1.5 Loose Wet
05/08/2025
2 >TL NE WL N R1 D1.5 Loose Wet
05/08/2025
2 >TL E WL N R1 D1.5 Loose Wet
05/08/2025
1 TL SE WL N R1 D1 Loose Wet

Snowpack

Below treeline there was about 1 foot of settled storm snow that was fully wet and easily slid off steeper slopes. The size was small however.

On easterly aspects near and above treeline the snow has settled down to about 8 to 10 inches and is mostly moist. There is about 1 inch left of cold, dry snow that gave clean shears in shovel tilt tests above the melt-freeze crust formed before the storm.

On north aspects, the snow is mostly cold still, with just the top 3-4 inches getting wet and dry cold snow beneath. At about 11,800 feet, the snow was completely dry still. In some areas, there were mid-storm crusts that could act as pooling layers for deeper avalanches, but the snow was well bonded throughout with no signs of any surface wind slabs. Loading patterns were unusual, and I would be especially cautious on steep northwest and west aspects for possible dry surface instabilities.
South aspects were very moist but seemed to have shed most of there snow in steep terrain. I was unable to push any snow down even in steep terrain.

Weather

By about 10 am, cloud buildup mostly blocked the sun and kept temperatures moderate. When the sun did pop out, it was hot. There was plenty of rimed thunder snow in the afternoon, and at lower elevations, it was sprinkling rain.

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