[MCR] Northern Esplanades

I spent last week (and this week too) up in the northern Esplanades at Sentry Mountain Lodge, north of Golden.  As of March 5 the snowpack is well settled on all aspects and elevations with persistent shears down 30cm on a density change in last weeks storm snow and down 70cm on a thin facet layer, leftovers from the cold snap 10 days ago.  If you are venturing out to this part of the Esplanades the skiing is great and the stability friendly, although that may be changing because its snowing outside right now, albeit lightly.

Use normal caution in wind effected alpine and treeline features, these are the places you might be able to wake the facet layer.  Until we get some significant snow and/or wind you can ski many places right now, but still avoid those big ugly thin, shallow and wind effected places as usual.  I mimic Larry’s post about buried sun crusts with facetted grains on top of them in south facing terrain too, that is definitely something to watch out for, especially if this storm brings some significant load with it.

Hope this information helps some folks.

Ian Tomm
Assistant Ski Guide
ian@xxxxxxxxxxxx