Sawatch
AvalancheRebecca Hodgetts · Apr 30, 2017 · Aspen
Weather
Clouds building through day. Wind was clearly moving snow on 13 000' plus peaks, but not at the grade, or cornice. Temperatures rose during the day, with a high of 33F in the valley bottom.
Snowpack
Surface snow becoming moist by 10am. New snow had settled to ~12' below and near treeline. At Beeler grade drifts were up to 24" deep. Below this weeks storm snow, the old snow surface was lightly frozen (could push frozen snow with fist and leave indents). New/old snow sheared moderately with shovel in quick pit, and would expect a trigger such as rapid warming or additional snow loading to produce a small avalanche at this interface. There is enough snow in start zones that with propagation, an avalanche of size D2 could result. Under current conditions (lack of cohesive slab) this situation appears unlikely. This could change with added wind load or additional snowfall.
Avalanche
Very small Wind Slab Avalanches were noted at Mountain Boy Gulch and Beeler grade.