Aspen
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Dec 24, 2018 · Aspen
Weather
Socked-in skies with frequent periods of foggy, low-visibility. 8-12" of new snow on the ground with snow tapering in the afternoon to S-1. Calm to no wind at the top of the bowl.
Snowpack
We dug a quick pit on an east facing slope near the top of the bowl. Total depth was 165cm with 30cm of new snow. Poor bonding below the new snow was evident throughout the area as many steep, rocky slope had slid naturally. Most the avalanche activity was small loose snow sluffs but on a few north and east aspects, larger Storm Slab avalanches had propagated larger fractures in the new snow. Another layer of concern was found 60cm down below a more dense slab layer. ECTs propagated on moderate scores but there was no observed avalanches failing deeper on these layers.
Avalanche
We saw many Loose snow avalanches D1 in size and a few larger D1.5-D2s that propagated in the storm snow. Steep rocky areas, convex rollovers, and steep below ridgeline start zones were the problem features.