Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · May 19, 2020 · Aspen
Weather
Very warm and mostly sunny with increasing cloud cover building into the afternoon hours. Gusty in the alpine with a strong southerly wind. Mostly calm at lower elevations.
Snowpack
The snowpack continues to rapidly lose volume. The day started with a 15cm thick weak surface freeze. Northeast facing terrain became unsupportable at lower elevations by 9:30AM, and on northwest facing slopes around 11AM. Even on north aspects, snow cover is discontinuous below around 11,500 feet. Deepest snowpack is on north-facing slopes above 12,500 feet with average depth of around 100cm though lots of rocks and ground cover is starting to show. On these slopes you can still find basal facets, but they are showing significant signs of rounding and melt water infiltration. Grains are 2mm in size and wet to the ground. Cornice have mostly already failed or are melting back.
Avalanche
Evidence of recent cornice collapses with a few triggered wet, gouging avalanches on the slopes below. One fresh Loose Wet avalanche in steep, rocky, northwest-facing terrain that gouged to the ground.