Aspen

Avalanche

Brian Lazar Andrea Tupy · Nov 25, 2020 · Gunnison

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Weather

Clear and sunny day with moderate westerly winds at ridgetop and in the alpine. Winds picked up a bit after 1PM.

Snowpack

Average snow depth on north-facing slopes is around 75cm, 25cm of new and drifted snow on northerly lee slopes. There are a couple of stiffer (1F) mid-pack slabs sandwiching a buried layer of near-surface facets and about 10cm of 2mm basal facets. Neither of these weak layers were reactive in snowpack tests (ECTs and PSTs), and both show signs of rounding. East-facing slopes hold about 50cm of snow with lots of weak snow and soft discontinuous slabs. South-facing slopes are around 30cm with a noticeable crust down about 10cm. Surface snow was moist by the afternoon and easy to get to shed off the buried crust.

Avalanche

Steep northeast-facing slope had minor sloughing of new snow at the interface with old snow.