Aspen

Snowpack

Blase Reardon · Nov 16, 2013 · Aspen

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Weather

4" HN24 at road midday (~8900'); 4+" more @ 4 PM. HST 10-12" near treeline, but wind effects made it hard to be sure. Small but heavily rimed grains, with some ~1 mm graupel. Continuous snowfall S1 with frequent bouts of S2. Skintrack at 10500' completely obliterated in < 3 hours. Winds spiked early afternoon, w 20-30 mph gusts at and < treeline intermittently through afternoon and steady 15 mph. Wind direction highly variable - N, S, up, down. DIdn't reach main ridge; wind loading there estimated. Moderate < treeline.

Snowpack

On shaded slopes near and below treeline, snowpack retained structure during dry spell. Pre-storm layers show evidence of faceting, though grains are small. Several weak interfaces exist, w soft slabs above them. MF crust present many locations ~6 inches above ground. Lower snowpack moist. Sunnier slopes near treeline have supportable crust w 4-10" storm snow that's not bonding well.