Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Nov 10, 2024 · Aspen
Weather
Cold morning and a warm, clear, bluebird day! Occasional light gusts with light, rolling snow transport above treeline.
Snowpack
The Castle Peak SNOTEL site at 11,500 feet in Castle Creek read 4.40 inches of Snow Water Equivalent [SWE] on November 10, 2024. Manual SWE measurements were taken at a snowpit dug just over 11,500 feet on the north slopes of Greg Mace Peak, which measured 4.68 inches of SWE. The snowpack is mostly composed of new, soft snow on most slopes until you get above 11,000 feet on northerly facing slopes where a mid-pack slab about 10-30cm thick composed of rounded grains can be found on some terrain features. Above about 11,500 feet there is a 10-15 cm thick layer of 1mm rounding facets on the ground. On terrain features where this mid-pack slab rests on the persistent weak layer several collapses (whumpfs) and cracks were observed and long-column snowpack tests showed propagating failures. There was some fairly widespread surface hoar growth around Ashcroft and up Castle Creek below treeline. The Surface Hoar melted on most sunny slopes throughout the day but could still be found in the shade around 15:00.
Avalanche
A couple of Loose Wet avalanches were observed on southerly-facing slopes in the afternoon.