Aspen
SnowpackColin Mitchell · Feb 9, 2017 · Aspen
Weather
Mostly cloudy skies in the morning gave way to a bluebird afternoon, with only a few high-thin clouds. Breezy. Winds were keeping the snow cool at elevations above about 9,000'.
Snowpack
4-8" of high-density, graupel-filled snow on top of a supportable base. The snow from the last storm came in warm, and fell on a snow surface composed of rounded grains and melt forms. Bonding to the old snow was good. Hand shears and ski cuts did not produce any results at the interface. Wind slabs had formed around ridges and cross-loaded terrain features. The slabs were 1'-2' thick. I was able to pull a block off with a hand shear test, but the slabs and drifts were not reactive to the weight of a skier. No cracking, collapsing, whumpfing, or other signs of instability. No avalanche activity observed, other than some rollerballs and tiny loose wet slides from steep, rocky terrain below 9,000'. Debris would have filled a wheelbarrow or two.