Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Mar 20, 2019 · Aspen
Weather
Warm, sunny day. Winds were mostly calm, but there were a few breezes right along the ridgeline in the alpine.
Snowpack
The snowpack is very deep in this area. Estimated an average snowpack depth of 4 to 5 meters. There are no weak layers of concern in the top 1.5m of the snowpack. The snowpack shows signs of significant melt water infiltration, and there are well-developed runnels on all south and west-facing slopes, even near and just above treeline. These aspects had a 3cm melt-freeze crust that softened by 1pm. There is some wind effect in the alpine, but any Wind Slab avalanche concerns are isolated to right near ridgeline in the alpine, and even here the concern is very patchy. Very large cornices overhang many slopes. This is the most concerning snowpack characteristic right now both from the threat they pose by themselves, and for the potential for cornice collapse to trigger very larger avalanches on the slopes below.
Avalanche
The Yule Creek drainage experienced significant avalanche activity in the last two weeks. There are at least two D4 avalanches that ran during the last loading event on the northeast side of Mt Justice (estimated March 7). More recent Wet Slab avalanche activity was also present, one of which ran D4 in size. The Wet Slab avalanches look to have run around March 13. There is significant debris and large broken timber all throughout the valley floor. Smaller avalanches of both varieties littered the landscape.