Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Mar 2, 2023 · Aspen
Weather
Sky coverage varied between Broken and Few throughout the day with steady Light westerly winds and occasional Moderate gusts. Temperatures were in the mid-20s Fahrenheit and felt much warmer in the sun melting the snow surface by 14:00.
Snowpack
The most concerning layer is a melt-freeze crust/facet (MFcr/FC) combination buried beneath last week's storm on east and southeast aspects. This is the layer the skier-triggered avalanche broke on and got propagating failures between 10-15 taps on extended column tests, as well as numerous terrain feature-wide collapses (whumpfs), occasionally with shooting cracks. In the pit locations, there were three distinct MFcrs with fairly well-developed facets between .5-1mm in size in between the crusts and snowpack tests failing on top of the lowest crust. The average height of snow (HS) along the lee-side of Highlands Ridge was around two meters deep on less wind-loaded terrain features on shoulders and outside of start zones. Ski penetration (SP) was consistently less than 10cm and the new storm snow quickly settled into a 1F to 4F-hard cohesive slab around 50cm thick on average. There is a noticeable dust layer in the previous storm from last week (Feb.21-24) in this location as well as throughout the western portions of the Elks and the Grand and Battlement Mesas. Bottom Line: East and southeast-facing slopes, particularly if they are wind-loaded, are currently the most dangerous slopes with a persistent weak layer of facets in between multiple crusts that will likely persist for days to weeks.
Avalanche
Aside from the skier-triggered avalanche four notable, Large (D2) avalanches were observed as well as a few Small (D1) avalanches, all on wind-loaded terrain features.