Aspen

Avalanche

Brandon Levy · Jan 6, 2022 · Aspen

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Weather

Relatively warm with intermittent very light snow showers and overcast skies. The wind was fairly intermittent as well at this below treeline location.

Snowpack

There is a clear persistent weak layer 20-25cms off the ground. This layer of concern is 3mm faceted crystals. I spent a lot of time isolating a propagation saw test at my standard profile location. I began isolating a block 125cm x 145cm x 30cm and when I cut the back wall the column released as my saw reached the weak layer. I have never seen a PST fail on isolation. The slope angle is roughly 28 degrees. After this I performed two compression tests and observed moderate to hard sudden results. Initiation may take some effort but the structure is very poor and propagation is certain. See profile and photos

Avalanche

None observed