Aspen
SnowpackBrian Lazar · Jan 3, 2023 · Grand Mesa
Weather
Cold and overcast with light (S-1 to S1) snow throughout the day. Moderate westerly winds drifting snow at ridgetop.
Snowpack
Average snow height around 120cm at 10K. The two weak layers in the upper snowpack consist of near-surface facets buried on 12/21 around 45cm deep, and mostly flattened surface hoar buried on 12/27 and around 60 cm deep. Neither of these weak layers produced propagating results in large column tests. The mid-pack slab is 1F hard and around a foot or so thick. This rests on the mid-November weak layer, which shows signs of strengthening, and is now 4F on the hand hardness scale. We did get moderate failures on basal weak layers below the drought layer, which I haven't seen elsewhere. Slabs failing on this layer would produce avalanches around 3 feet thick. Fresh wind-drifted slabs 12-18 inches thick and fresh cornices were forming near ridgelines on all easterly-aspects.