Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Dec 1, 2023 · Gunnison
Weather
Obscured to overcast all day with snow S-1 to S2 throughout the day. Light west to southwest wind near ridgetop but not much in the way of drifting snow.
Snowpack
Snowpack below treeline is all weak snow. There are isolated discontinuous slabs around 10 feet across but pose little threat at lower elevations. Slabs become more continuous across the terrain above 11,000 ft. North-facing terrain still harbors weak basal facets and the mid-November weak layer is now down around 70cm. The current loading will really test these weak layers and I wouldn't trust any steep north-facing terrain. South-facing (mainly traveled on southwest and south) have stout melt-freeze crusts around 3cm thick under the new storm snow. There are well-developed facets under the crusts, but it will be very hard to affect this layer on south and southwest aspects. However, as you move to more southeast aspects, the crust is collapsible in places and could very well be a new persistent slab problem in the coming days. The storm started with a thick layer of stellars and dendrites serving as a non-persistent weak layer. The storm snow would easily shed off the crusts. The storm snow wasn't yet a cohesive slab with cracking isolated to just around our skis, but this will become a concern over the weekend with storm slab avalanches possibly growing to D2 in size.
Avalanche
Saw two D1 storm slab avalanches on east-facing slopes with new storm snow breaking on underlying crusts.