Aspen

Quick report

Carly Valerious Brandon Levy · Jan 28, 2026 · Aspen

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Weather

Cool temps with few to scattered clouds all day. The winds were calm.

Snowpack

There is about 25 cm of new snow from this weekend's storm sitting on top of old faceted layers. That interface is our biggest concern, but extended column tests on northeast, east, and southeast-facing slopes around 11,500 ft showed that this layer lacks sufficient cohesion to communicate a failure across the column. East and southeast-facing slopes had a melt-freeze crust that remained intact, whereas at the same depth on northeast-facing slopes, the crust had decomposed into or was initially a weak layer of faceted grains.

Avalanche

We intentionally triggered a few D1 loose dry avalanches on a north-facing slope near tree line. These loose, dry avalanches can gain momentum and accumulate snow, gouging into the faceted snowpack.