Aspen

Snowpack

Matt Huber · Feb 22, 2019 · Aspen

Weather

Light snow fell throughout the trip, less than an inch of accumulation in about four hours. There was no visibility so I was unable to see snow transport on ridges above treeline, near treeline there was light blowing snow but no significant loading.

Snowpack

No cracking, collapsing or whumpfing. We dug on a northeast facing slope at 11,400'. The total snowpack depth was 210 centimeters with less than 30 centimeter ski penetration, boot penetration was to the top of early February storm, which is about 50 cm from the snow surface. Extended Column Tests produced only hard non-propagating results at a facet layer directly below a 3 cm, pencil hard layer roughly 50 cm from the surface. The mid-January surface hoar and facet layers are still identifiable but not reactive. The mid- December facets are also identifiable but non-reactive at 75 cm from ground.