Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Mar 16, 2023 · Aspen
Weather
Warm and overcast with brief periods of sun breaking through. There was a light northerly wind at ridgetop.
Snowpack
Got one minor collapse on the ridge itself, but confined to just below my skis. The atmospheric river event from March 10-11 dropped around 10 inches of very dense and wet snow that was capped by around a foot of colder snow. This wet snow-dry snow was the culprit in two skier-triggered avalanches breaking one to two feet deep on March 13 and March 14. This interface was then buried by the March 15-16 atmospheric river event, which once again dropped 10 inches of very dense snow capped with around 15 inches of colder, drier snow. This put the interface of concern down around 3 feet deep in most places.
Avalanche
Two separate parties triggered two very large avalanches in very close proximity. Each avalanche broke around 3 feet deep at the interface of concern from the March h 11 storm event. Both ran east northeast-facing slopes around. The D2.5 avalanche was triggered by a skier on a convex roll around 10, 600 ft. The D3 avalanche was triggered by a skier on the ridge kicking off a small cornice chunk around 11,200 feet. The D3 avalanche stepped into deeper layers in place pulling of smaller, deeper pockets (see video).