Aspen

Avalanche

Ben Luck · Dec 20, 2020 · Aspen

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Weather

Single digits and clear at 730 am, warming and increasingly overcast until noon, clouds dispersing through the afternoon.

Snowpack

Extremely weak and reactive snowpack at elevations above 9000' and all aspects except due south slopes that were not holding significant snow before last storm cycles. Widespread settling and collapsing while breaking trail, including one impressive rumbling collapse that propagated across a large meadow and shed snow off trees 100+ yards away.

Avalanche

We observed two recent D1 avalanches. Both released on convex slopes above steep gullies and while neither slide entrained much snow, they were large enough to bury a person given the terrain features. One slide likely ran naturally, the other either ran naturally or was triggered by another party mid-day on Sunday.