Aspen

Avalanche

Jared Berman Kelly Tonking · Dec 14, 2020 · Aspen

Weather

Cold temps measured at 14F at 11,000 on a North aspect this afternoon. Light snowfall persisted throughout the day averaging at about 1cm/hour. Several inches accumulated by the end of the day. Skies were overcast all day with calm winds.

Snowpack

Mostly faceted snowpack with 9-12" of storm snow on elevations from 8,200ft up to 11,000ft on North facing aspects. Widespread cracking and collapsing on all elevations we traveled through. Several snowpits dug at 9700ft showed signs of instability (see snowprofile in attached photo).

Avalanche

1 avalanche observed (maybe from Saturday?) that was slightly filled in but crown and debris was still visible. Location was below treeline on a steep gully feature in a break in the trees on a NNW aspect. Avalanche broke at old/new interface and appeared to be natural as there were no other ski tracks on slope. Its worth noting that although small, this avalanche traveled into mature trees at the bottom of a steep gulch (terrain trap). SS-N-R1-D1-I