The "tweener" weather continues. Its not too hot on the Eastern Plains, and not cold in the Front Range Mountains. The temperatures at the high passes continue to stay above freezing. This is resulting in rapid melting and a lack of stability on steeper slopes.
We sent the Front Range Ski Mountaineering R&D team to the Moffat Tunnel to explore the conditions. They were able to begin consistent skinning towards Frosty and Radiobeacon just pass the intersection of the Forest Lakes Trail and Arapaho Creek. A burst of thundersnow at 8 am on the Continental Divide resulted in an immediate ski down Frosty and off the divide. The snow on Frosty had not frozen and even at 8 am the conditions were grabby.
Time to start exploring the darker north faces and west faces to see if they are holding better conditions. Be careful out there.