Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek · Mar 31, 2023 · Aspen
Weather
Overcast sky coverage all day with consistent S2 snowfall until around 14:00 when the sky began to clear and snow stopped. Whiteout conditions along the Mount Arkansas Ridgeline for a couple of hours with very low visibility. Consistent moderate northwest winds with extreme gusts along the ridgeline and intense snow transport.
Snowpack
Around 10 test pits on slopes facing east through south to west below and near the treeline confirm a concerning persistent weak layer on top of melt-freeze crusts (MFcr) that developed during short, sunny dry spells in March and were buried around March 10 and March 20. The lower MFcr that was buried on March 10 has well-developed, striated, faceted grains (FC) one to two mm in size that consistently showed propagating failures in extended column tests (ECT) between 15-25 taps. Below the treeline the upper MFcr buried around March 20 was supportable to skis and showed no unstable results in snowpack tests or signs of kinetic growth forms around the crust. Above around 11,000 ft. the March 20 interface began showing consistent propagating failures in ECTs on less than 10 taps. All of the failures in ECTs occurred on top of the crusts not below. A few test pits on northwest and north-facing slopes above 11,000ft. showed no signs of instability and a largely homogenous and stable snowpack. No pits dug on northeast-facing slopes.
Avalanche
Observed one large avalanche that likely slid last night and an older large natural on southerly slopes of Mount Arkansas. Triggered several small avalanches on wind-loaded terrain features on south and southeast aspects all D1 in destructive size.