Aspen

Avalanche

Brian Lazar · Apr 12, 2024 · Aspen

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Weather

Clear and warm with a cool west to southwest breeze on alpine ridges.

Snowpack

Wind scoured and thin northwest-facing slopes in the alpine still seem most worrisome, with cold, stiff, dry snow and basal facets still not buried all that deep. Most other slopes have better and more consistent coverage. Only Southerly slopes in the alpine, and mostly around rocky terrain, are showing dust on the surface. The stout surface and near-surface crusts held up well near and above treeline today, but showed signs of deteriorating and became much less supportable below 11,000 feet or so, especially in denser timber. Water has made it to the ground at these lower elevations. Northerly slopes retain a more winter-like snowpack with 2 to 5 inches of cold, dry snow over firm wind-drifted slabs. You could still find isolated wind slabs in these terrain. In general, the snowpack seems to be making a steady but nicely-paced transition to a more mature spring snowpack.

Avalanche

Numerous small loose wet avalanches and a couple fresher slabs, one wind slab, and one potentially a wet slab.