Aspen

Avalanche

Ben Luck · Jan 25, 2019 · Aspen

View on map

Weather

Broken-Overcast skies at 8 am, slowly clearing by the early afternoon. Light and intermittent NW wind along ridgelines.

Snowpack

On an East facing aspect at 10,300', snowpack depth was 190 cm. The upper snowpack consisted of ~15 cm of low density storm snow, on top of ~10 cm of wind effected snow deposited during storms earlier this week. The mid-pack consisted of several stiff, dense slabs (1F/1F+). Lower pack consisted of ~30 cm of rounded facets. Our primary avalanche concern was a persistent week layer at ~95 cm, at the interface between stiff slabs in the mid pack. This layer was stubborn to unreactive in ECT and CT, and shovel shear tests. Insufficient data was collected to comment on the spatial variability of this problem layer. The results of stability tests and lack of obvious signs of instability indicated a strong snowpack structure on aspects (South-East) and elevations (10,300'-8800') we were riding.

Avalanche

No recent natural or human triggered avalanches were observed.