Aspen
AvalancheBrandon Levy · Dec 19, 2019 · Gunnison
Weather
Cold temperatures in the single digits to low teens. Skies stayed relatively clear with scattered cloud cover. Winds were light from the South with no visible transport.
Snowpack
Below treeline around 10500' the snow depth was around 1 meter. Five hundred feet higher on a north facing slope the snow depth was 130 cms. the depth hoar at the base of the snowpack was 30 cm thick and failed with a sudden fracture character with hard force in a compression test. The depth hoar also produced a propagating result in a long column test with a PST 39/120 End down 100 cms on 2-6mm depth hoar grains. This result was observed to be less than 1/3 of the isolated column. Some degradation of the snow near the surface and surface hoar crystals observed in all sheltered terrain on north facing slopes during the tour.
Avalanche
Two soft slab avalanches observed on South and Southeast facing slopes from the ridge extending West of Marble Peak that separates Raspberry Creek and North Anthracite Creek.