Aspen

Avalanche

Dylan Craaybeek · Dec 18, 2023 · Gunnison

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Snowpack

Average height of snow (HS) on leeward sides of ridgelines is around 90-130cm. The bottom of this snowpack is made up of well-developed depth hoar that is rounding and sintering but still 4F- hard on the hand hardness scale and cause for concern. There is also a layer of buried surface hoar about 40-60cm below the snow surface that shows propagating results after 20+ taps during extended column tests but no avalanches have been observed to fail on this layer yet.

Avalanche

Several old avalanches including a large avalanche in Milton Creek, a smaller avalanche not previously coded on a steep rollover in North Anthracite Creek, and a large avalanche in Raspberry Bowl all on north through northeast to east-facing aspects.