Aspen
SnowpackBrian McCall · Mar 29, 2011 · Aspen
Weather
A few to scattered clouds through about 2pm. High thin overcast clouds moved in late afternoon hours. Winds light north locally. Mild temps with strong radiation.
Snowpack
Storm snow from the last few days has settled to about 40 cm in the upper snowpack. Well bonded to old surface on all slopes traveled on today. Strong winds from Monday evening have only transported snow above 12,000 ft in this area. Little wind effects at treeline from recent storm. All aspects above treeline showed some lee or cross loading, mostly from southwest winds. Dust layer present in this area around 40-45 cm below the surface. Dust is less concentrated here than further west in the zone. Crust where dust layer is present has small mixed forms below it. These would fail but not propagate in ECT's. Lower 80-90 cm of the snowpack did contain mixed forms and 2mm facets on northerly aspects. These averaged around 1F hardness and most showed signs of rounding.No tests failed on this layer today, though it will be one to watch when warming starts to affect these shady aspects or in shallower snowpack areas.