Aspen
SnowpackBrian Lazar · Dec 20, 2018 · Gunnison
Weather
Surprisingly cool to cold. Some scattered clouds, but mostly sunny. Light northwest at ridgeline, otherwise calm in the trees and at lower elevations.
Snowpack
The snowpack has lost some volume over the last couple weeks of mostly dry weather. Recent storms favored the east side of the zone, and now the upper Crystal River and upper Roaring Fork drainages are in closer alignment with respect to average snowpack depth then they were a couple weeks ago. Average height of snow in this area was 100 to 120 cm. The snowpack shows obvious of signs of dramatic wind effect from the last couple events. There is a 4 inch thick 1F stiff wind slab in wind-loaded near and above treeline terrain. The wind effects even extends below treeline in open areas to around 11,000 ft. The midpack is a stiff (1F hardness) 40cm thick slab wiht a thin layer of facets in the middle. This all sits over 2-3mm depth hoar which shows signs of strengthening. ECTs did not produce results on depth nor a thin layer of mid-pack facets.