Sawatch
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · May 5, 2019 · Aspen
Snowpack
The snow surface saw a good, although thin, freeze last nigh under clear skies. Supportable and slippery conditions early this morning. The snow surface softened as it was hit by the sun but no rollerballs or other signs of instability noted. I was off of the snow by about 10 AM.---I dug on an east-facing near treeline slope and found mostly moist but not wet snow. Below the new storm snow, which totals about 35 cm, there is a pencil hard 5 cm thick melt-freeze crust. Below this melt-freeze crust is a layer of four-finger hard wet snow. If the upper snowpack softened significantly from warming, it would be possible to collapse this layer and trigger a wet slab. Also, this would be about the depth that any loose wet avalanches would gouge down to (~45 cm from the surface).
Avalanche
A large avalanche out of Star Mountain B that looks like it broke near the ground as wind loading occurred. This path avalanched during the March cycle so the snowpack in the start zone is likely thin and weak. Several other small loose wet avalanches and a larger Wind Slab avalanche at the top of Mountain Boy Gulch---I also looked at the reported D2 Wind Slab avalanche from 4/30/19 from the Beeler Grade. The avalanche may have started as a small wind slab but the volume of snow was mostly due to the debris trigger loose wet avalanches.