Sawatch
AvalancheColin Mitchell · May 16, 2017 · Aspen
Weather
Nice sunny day. Clouds were slowly building through the morning, winds were light.
Snowpack
East Roaring Fork is all but melted out. HS 6" with lots of bare ground. Not enough snow for skiing. West Roaring Fork is still holding 2-3' of well-consolidated melt forms with a few inches of wet corn at the surface. Almost all layering has disappeared. Even the stout crust buried by late April snows has broken down and is barely distinguishable from other layers. Below the fist-hard corn on the surface, the snowpack was P hard to the ground. HS averaged around 90 on this NTL east-facing slope. Very few concerns for natural releases with this structure. Human-triggered loose wet slides are possible, but not likely to be very large.
Avalanche
No new activity observed today.