Aspen

Snowpack

john morrone · Apr 19, 2015 · Aspen

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Weather

overcast, flurries at 8 AM, spotty sun though mid-morning, full sun before noon

Snowpack

12-15" of dense soft storm snow, occ deeper in lee and shaded areas. quick hand pits indicate poor-mod bond at old melt freeze surface (some surface facets?), with mod planar shears, but storm snow was very soft, only barely storm slab. as solar effected south slopes, top surface became wet and cohesive rapidly, with flintstone sized rollerballs and wet over cold-dry gunk resulting in bad ski base icing (stilts). entertaining ski out with "groaning" and incredibly slow snow in sunny exposures, shaded north facing not yet ruined above 10,000 at 1 PM.