Aspen
Quick reportDylan Craaybeek · Mar 10, 2026 · Aspen
Weather
Warm and sunny morning with increasing cloud coverage by about 10:00 A.M with moderate to strong winds moving snow along ridgelines.
Snowpack
Several snowpits on wind-loaded slopes on the east side of the ridge and then the wind-sheltered or scoured west side of the ridge showed a very similar snowpack with the main difference being the thickness and hardness of the slab. Extended column tests were consistently showing propagating failures after 20 taps on wind-loaded slopes where the slab was P hard and about 70-90cm thick, and then showing propagating failures with just 1 to 4 taps on wind-sheltered, northeast-facing slopes where the slab was 1F hard and about 50-60cm thick. This really highlights the most dangerous slopes, where it will be the easiest to trigger an avalanche.
Avalanche
Observed several avalanches that were not previously coded, some from late February and a few from this last storm that likely failed on March 6. Keep in mind, if we were getting natural D3 avalanches 4 days ago, it is going to take some time before we aren't worried about human triggering similar-sized avalanches on those aspects and elevations.