Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Jan 2, 2020 · Gunnison
Weather
Mostly cloudy with low clouds. The sun would pop through, and patches of blue ski would periodically open up. Moderate northerly winds at ridgetop. Cool with temps in the teens.
Snowpack
Surprisingly less snow in Marble than in Carbondale from this last storm. I measured 12 inches of snow in Carbondale, and 6 inches of new snow on the quarry road. There was around 8 or 9 inches of new snow above around 10,500 ft. Obvious sings of wind drifting from west and then north winds. This loaded east aspects, and cross-loaded other features. Marble bowl drifted in with around 12 to 14 inches of snow. Stiff wind-drifted slabs up to 2 feet thick were prominent all along ridge lines and in exposed features. You could easily get these slabs to fail on the old snow interface which consists of a few centimeters of buried near-surface facets. I was not willing to travel into more open wind-affected areas but suspect you could easily trigger D2 avalanches in the storm snow. In more sheltered locations the new snow showed no signs of settlement...yet. Storm slab avalanches will become a concern with just a little bit of settlement, likely within the next 24 hours. Snowpack depth in this area is around 220-230 cm on easterly aspects. Basal weak layers are still there, but you'd have to hit isolated shallow spot to affect them. Our next Persistent Slab avalanche problem now is the buried near-surface facets and crust facet combination in the top 40cm of the snowpack.
Avalanche
No signs of new avalanche activity other than small sluffs in steep terrain.