Aspen

Avalanche

Greg Shaffran · Feb 6, 2016 · Aspen

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Weather

Rapid warming with sub zero temps in the AM (-9C) at 8:30, warming to above freezing by 11:30. Clear skies with calm winds.

Snowpack

Average snow height was around 100cm. With a kinfe hard crust buried 30-50cms down on S and SE aspects. We dug pits on SE and NE aspects and both showed propagating failures at the interface between the new and old snow. We had a couple large collapses, and noticed moist grains on the surface and a developing sun crust on SE and S aspects.

Avalanche

We saw numerous naturals that appeared to have run in the past few days. We saw a lot of loose snow slides on West aspects, and several slabs on E, N, and W aspects. All were below treeline, in isolated steep pockets, and didn't appear to propagate very widely.