Aspen
AvalancheGreg Shaffran · Jan 1, 2014 · Aspen
Weather
Winds were howling today out of the WSW. Wind speeds were moderate-strong, with brief periods where it felt like it was approaching intense speeds. At 12:30 air temp was -11C, sky was overcast with S-1 precip, and lots of wind transport loading East aspects.
Snowpack
Visible wind transport was making soft wind slabs on NE-SE aspects. I saw no signs of instability within the new storm snow, and scoured areas, near ridge line (however it was cold and visibility was limited). Below 10000', I saw some limited cracking 30cm down in an aprox 100cm snowpack on ENE aspects. In hand pits the block broke easily on a clean shear plane of near surface facets.
Avalanche
We saw one N-SS-R2-D1 on a NE aspect at approximately 11000'