Aspen
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Jan 8, 2016 · Aspen
Weather
Periods of sun and clouds in the morning gave way to mostly sunny skies. By midday, winds picked up from the NW and by 4 o'clock, light snow had re-developed in the area.
Snowpack
8-10" of snow from the storm earlier in the week is bonding to the old snow surface. Some tiny cracks, sluffs and movement between ski tracks, but not moving far, only a meter or two. Lots of activity over the Christmas week has left a variable snowpack in avalanche-prone areas. Where the path ran, we have a foot of snow on an old bed surface, and other areas a snowpack averaging around 150 cms, with a strong slab over rounding depth hoar.
Avalanche
Many small sluffs and storm slabs were visible on steep NW-facing terrain on Mt. Justice. Interestingly BTL E-facing terrain in Anthracite Basin was covered with old crowns from slides over the Christmas storm cycle. These slides ran on the ground, and some propagated hundreds of meters, taking out whole sections of the slopes. We did not see this type of activity in the Yule creek drainage.