Aspen

Snowpack

Aspen Expeditions · Jan 6, 2013 · Aspen

Weather

Valley inversion with -14C temp at the car at 9am. At 11am at 10k it was 0.5C. Little to no wind throughout the day with strong solar effect on S facing aspects. High clouds limited some of the solar radiation.

Snowpack

HS on ascent varied from 40cm at 9,000ft to 70-90cm over 11,000. Most of the snowpack on the north aspects below treeline is unsupportive consisting of mostly facets. There is weakness in the snowpack but no exsiting slab which reduces the avalanche problem to dry loose slides on steep terrain (see photos). Areas on exposed ridges and at treeline there is more apparent wind slab formation on W-N-E aspects. SE aspects around 10,500 were thinner with HS around 50cm and consisted of a few layers of thin crusts with underlying facets. While traveling on N, E, and SE aspects there were no signs of cracking, however in some isolated terrain features (usually flats) collapsing existed.