Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · Jan 2, 2021 · Aspen
Weather
Cool, clear, calm, and mostly sunny.
Snowpack
Obvious signs of instability are waning with each passing day without new snow, but are still present. We were able to intentionally trigger a moderate-size rumbling collapse above steep northeast-facing slopes below and near treeline, but nothing moved on the steep slopes below or connected to the flatter terrain we were jumping on. We got some shooting cracks propagating about 10 feet ahead of our skis in wind-exposed northwest-facing low-angle terrain, but again no avalanche activity on adjacent small test features. North and east aspects have the most worrisome snowpack structure though the slab is deteriorating quickly, especially below treeline. The slab still has enough integrity to propagate failures as evidence by the avalanche we triggered remotely from lower-angle terrain. South aspects now have thin zipper crusts. Widespread surface hoar on all other aspects.
Avalanche
We trigger a small soft slab avalanche from lower-angle terrain while skiing around a steep rollover feature on a east northeast aspect below treeline. The avalanche release about 30 feet from where it was triggered, and broke on the basal facets. The facets stayed in place and the running debris did not gouge down to the ground. The slope that failed was approximately 38 degrees.