Aspen
AvalancheBrandon Levy · Nov 27, 2021 · Aspen
Weather
Clear skies and temperatures in the 20's to start the morning in the Castle Creek Valley. The wind was calm except for at the ridgelines where it was light from the northwest. Cloud cover increased throughout the day. Cirrus clouds began encroaching from the north around noon leading to high overcast by 2:00 pm.
Snowpack
The snow received from the most recent storm on and around 11/24/2021 did not do much to change the overall picture of the backcountry avalanche hazard in the Express Creek environs. I encountered low snow cover and wore skins on the approach up Express Creek road and on egress. There is continuous snow obscuring the surface roughness of the ground cover on north, northeast, and east-facing slopes above treeline as well as north and northeast slopes near treeline into the upper elevation of the below treeline band. In a snow profile on an east-facing slope at 12000' there was strong over weak layering from previous wind-loading. At this location an extended column test produced a moderate propagating test result (ECTP15 down 55cm on 2-4 mm faceted crystals). The overlying snow was fairly resistant and was one finger hard. While this test result and the structure indicate instability, the slopes that have this set-up appear to be very isolated in each drainage up Express Creek.
Avalanche
None observed