Aspen
AvalancheGreg Shaffran · Dec 8, 2019 · Aspen
Weather
Generally overcast with some very beautiful valley fog at points. Towards the end of the day the temperature dropped, and it started snowing heavily. Winds were generally calm.
Snowpack
Average snowpack is approx 80cms, and generally supportive. However, if you punch through that supportive slab, it's fairly common to find large, well formed facets at the bottom. Punching into this facet layer, is often accompanied by a large collapse. We had several large collapses today, and one that caused us to drop several inches. We dug a quick pit and saw consistent results that suggested an unstable relationship between the 50cms of 4F/1F slab, on top of fist hard facets. We kept it low-angle and had a great ski day.
Avalanche
Due to limited visibility we had a very small glimpse of some debris from a reported skier triggered slide yesterday in Black Diamond Bowl (E facing at approx 11,000'). We were also able to see the remains of two avalanches on Cardiac (East facing at 11,400) that I believe ran last Sunday.