Aspen

Avalanche

Dylan Craaybeek · Nov 4, 2022 · Aspen

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Weather

Overcast and Broken skies all morning with intermittent light precipitation (max precipitation rate of S1) clearing to Scattered sky and sunny by 13:00. Light winds with Moderate gusts and visible blowing snow along the ridgeline. Pearl Pass Road at 9740 ft. at 10:30 - Precip:S-1 Sky: BKN Temp: 24F Wind/Dir: L gusting M/SW. Pearl Pass Road at 9740 ft. at 14:00 - Precip: NO Sky: SCT Temp: 26F Wind/Dir: C gusting L/SW.

Snowpack

10-20cm of light density (60-90kg/m^3) new snow on the ground up until about 10,200 feet where traces of October snow can be found below the Nov.2-3 storm on northerly slopes. Below and near the treeline the snowpack consists of 20-30cm of rounding facets with a thin but widespread surface hoar layer at the top of this layer buried under the Nov.2-3 storm with 20-40cm precipitation particles and decomposing fragmented particles. Ski Pen was to the ground wherever a wind slab did not exist. Wind-loaded terrain features near the treeline have a prominent 10-20cm thick wind-crust (likely thicker above the treeline) on top of old October (FCxr) snow and below the new snow (PP/DF) that is very reactive to snowpack tests (ECTV x3). While reactive in snowpack tests this layer shows little propagation potential and no evidence of remote triggering.

Avalanche

Observed one small (D1) avalanche on the western slopes of Green Mountain.