Aspen
AvalancheMatt Lanning · Nov 22, 2015 · Aspen
Weather
clear, breezy, cold, elevation ~11,500', all aspects
Snowpack
snow is still fairly thin up in the Larkspur/Yekel zone, but above about 10,500' it gets skiable. there were literally zero signs of instability, although the winds that came through on Friday did a ton of work on the exposed aspects. Mt Yekel was essentially scoured and wind-hammered. super variable snow. once we descended down into the valley to the north of Yekel, we found fantastic snow, and snow that was skiable on quite steep slopes without signs of instability. biggest takeaway were the new windslab layers that formed on friday on S/E/W aspects. North filled in a bit, but not enough transport where we were to create instability. the low-angle slopes off the summit of Yekel were awful to ski, in all directions. we chose wisely and went down into the valley and found nice north-facing snow for our consecutive laps.
Avalanche
none seen or experienced