Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek, Chris Edwards · Feb 2, 2024 · Aspen
Weather
On and off S-1 with a light southerly breeze until around 3:00 PM when the snow picked up to S2, mostly falling as graupel. Light wind transport observed near treeline loading northerly slopes from the south.
Snowpack
Below around 10,000 feet the snowpack on all southerly aspects shows evidence of water percolation columns down to moist basal facets. At these lower elevations below treeline south and south-west slopes, steeper than 20 degrees were mostly melted back to the ground with discontinuous patches of homogenous melt-forms in between bare ground. Southerly and east-facing slopes on an open meadow between 10,500 and 11,500 have a thick (3-5cm) melt-freeze crust (MFcr) that is supportable to skis and boots (BP/SP both <5cm). Extended column tests on slopes with this crust present showed propagating results consistently between 13-16 taps. West and northwest-facing slopes around the same elevation have a much thinner slab about 30cm thick and 1F hard that was variably supportable to the weight of a skier with some steps having a ski penetration around 15cm and some more than 50cm. The slab grew thicker and more supportable as elevation increased. The old snow surface showed signs of surface hoar and near-surface faceting but were dry to moist with moist snow burying them throughout the day.
Avalanche
Several old slab avalanches that were not yet coded most likely from our last period of High avalanche danger.