Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Jan 2, 2024 · Aspen
Weather
The cold, clear morning turned into a warm, sunny day in the sunshine while the temperature remained in the teens in the shade at higher elevations. No noticeable snow transport along ridgelines.
Snowpack
Below about 12,000 feet ski penetration is consistently to the ground on most slopes making for very difficult trail breaking. It is very easy to trigger Loose Dry avalanches on any slopes facing west through north to east steeper than about 40 degrees and they will entrain all the old snow sliding on the ground. Above about 12,000 feet there is a bit more of a consistent slab with ski penetration varying between about 15cm and >30cm with every few steps. On wind-loaded slopes on the east side of the ridgeline from Green Mountain to Taylor Peak there is a fairly consistent slab about 40cm thick with F hard (on the hand hardness scale) facets below. Snowpack tests showed largely unstable results with extended column tests showing propagating failures around 15-25 taps and propagation saw tests showing propagating failures after cutting less than 30% of the column. Despite an untrustworthy snowpack here and mostly unstable snowpack tests there are no signs of avalanches, cracking, or collapsing despite testing many slopes steeper than 30 degrees in areas of concern. It seems at this period in time on slopes highlighted by the Persistent Slab avalanche problem snowpack tests may lead us to believe the slope is more dangerous than it actually is right now.
Avalanche
Very easy to trigger small Loose Dry avalanches on slopes steeper than 40 degrees facing west through north to east below 12,000 feet.