Aspen

Snowpack

Brian McCall · Jan 15, 2011 · Aspen

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Weather

Scattered to broken skies in the morning hours. Quickly became overcast around noon. Some low cloud cover observed to our south with bases dropping to 12,000 ft or so. Winds light northwest with no transport observed.

Snowpack

Profile at ridge top, sheltered area at 11,200. HS 140cm. Upper snowpack had two weak layers buried within 35 cm of the surface. January 9th surface hoar layer found 20cm down. In this area, only fist hard snow above it. Produced moderate CT failures with resistant planar results. Second weak layer of small facets and mixed forms found 35 cm down. Moderate to hard RP failures on this layer. Mid pack progressed from 1F to pencil hardness. Higher density snow found was from the mid December storm. Lower snowpack, 1F hardness facets and mixed forms showing signs of rounding.