Aspen

Avalanche

Jared Berman · Nov 16, 2020 · Aspen

Weather

Clear skies and mostly calm winds. Light winds developed in the late afternoon from the North/North West. Temperatures were warm, especially below treeline where temperatures remained above freezing. Near treeline we observed colder temperatures below freezing on shady slopes.

Snowpack

Drastically variable snow conditions dependent on aspect. On warm, sunny slopes we did not see many instabilities although the surface snow was wet and sloppy. Roller-balls were observed under rocky outcrops and steep slopes on these sunny aspects. On the other end of the spectrum, cold shady slopes were found to have wind loaded snow sitting on top of a 10cm layer of 2mm facets at the ground. Although below treeline this facet layer was more of a melt-freeze crust, we found this basel layer develop into an established week layer as you gained elevation. This was prominent especially near and above treeline. Depth of snow ranged from about 35cm below treeline to 75cm above treeline on aspects North - NE- East. A snowpit dug at 11,000ft on a North aspect revealed a fair snowpack. Snow depth was 70cm deep that consisted of 4F facets at the ground with wind-packed grains that ranged from 1F - 4F in hardness resting on top of this basel weak layer. 2 extended column tests failed at this facet/wind-packed interface. Results below: ECTP 27 ECTP 28

Avalanche

None