Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Jan 11, 2022 · Aspen
Weather
Cold night last night warming up quickly to 19F by 10:00AM at the trailhead. Sky cover was Broken and Calm winds to start the day. Temperature increased throughout the day not getting above mid 20s and the sky cleared as the day progressed. It was sunny and beautiful day with Few clouds after about 11 AM. No noticeable wind loading on ridgelines and Calm wind all day with an occasional Light breeze.
Snowpack
The height of snow (HS) varied from 1-1.5 meters deep on northwest, north, and southeast aspects. Northeast aspects were largely wind-loaded and deeper at around 2 meters. Southerly aspects have a breakable melt-freeze crust forming on the surface and south, southwest, and west facing slopes have a much shallower snowpack around 0.5-1 meters deep. Northwest to north through southeast facing slopes still have a prominent layer of well-developed facets buried under a firm (1F to P hard) slab around a meter thick. Snowpack tests on northwest and southeast show a trend to a less reactive snowpack but still concerning for the next several days. Jan. 9th snow has settled to 5cm of soft surface snow and has not been transported much by the wind.
Avalanche
Observed some old avalanches from the New Year's avalanche cycle and perhaps a few more recently. Avalanches coded in separate observations for the avalanche explorer tool. Links found here: 1: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=68921 2: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=68922 3: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=68923