Aspen

Snowpack

Anonymous · Jan 17, 2011 · Aspen

View on map

Weather

Sunny Friday Mostly Cloudy Sat. and Sunday On Sunday a light mist fell and covered more recent surface hoar with a light crust...

Snowpack

The top 12" of snow was very reactive in the western part of the ASPEN ZONE (CT7 Q1-2) and 2 triggered slides occurred this weekend. One was an unplanned small (50' wide ran 100') soft slab that caught a skier and buried them in soft snow. (No trauma or drama due to small size and skier being above most of slide area but eye opening for sure). The second was an intentional ski cut on a steeper slope which remote released a 12"+ deep soft slab 200' wide that ran 300'vert. both slides were on +30° slopes facing N or NW in partially open glades near 11,000ft. Sliding surface was old surface hoar. 2' deep in the snow pack we found CT17 Q3 on another layer of larger crystals.