Aspen
AvalancheGreg Shaffran · Feb 12, 2017 · Aspen
Weather
Overcast all day with mild temps. Winds were calm with occasionally light gusts out of the East. It oscillated between light and moderate snowfall, with occasional brief windows of heavy snow fall. It seemed to be snowing much harder as we got closer to Aspen.
Snowpack
The new snow felt moist on top of a snowpack that through probe poling felt stiffer as you got further down into it. Really, really good skiing, but avoided any/all consequential terrain.
Avalanche
We observed approx. a dozen wet avalanches below treeline and off the west side of Aspen Mtn while driving up Castle Creek road in the morning. Visibility was obscured, but it looked like the widespread avalanche activity ran in the past 12-24 hrs. It was hard to tell if they were loose or slab, but either way, we saw a significant amount of debris under almost every small avalanche path, especially the ones that were steep, thin, and rocky. As we cruised up Green Mtn we heard a lot of bombs that we assume were from highlands, as well as a couple other sounds that seemed like they came from much closer and had that muffled, tapered sound of avalanche activity.