Aspen
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Jan 12, 2017 · Aspen
Weather
Light snow with a light westerly wind. Fog and low clouds were blowing around the Crystal Valley all morning, with some breaks in the clouds and a little sun poking through now and then.
Snowpack
The snowpack on the pass is setting up well. Monday's rain crust has bonded with the layers above and below, and the storm snow is rounding quickly. 4" overnight, and only about 1 cm of PP on the surface, the rest of the new snow was already rounds this morning. Very low temperature gradient (3 degrees in 142cm). Basal layer still recognizable as old depth hoar, with a couple of striations still visible on some crystals, but 1F hard and well-rounded overall. ECTX, DTTM 15 SC on the basal layer. No avalanche activity was visible from the pass with the exception of Monday's slide in Lone Tree Bowl. Yule creek road was clear, no avalanches made the road. Other than the relatively small slides reported by Shane in Carbonate and Mill, and a few shallow sluffs, no avalanche activity was visible from the road or windy point. The ridge was partly obscured and snow is deep and unconsolidated. It seems likely that some crowns and debris piles will start to show when visibility improves and things begin to shrink down with settlement. Still, little in the way of recent activity (<48 hours) visible from the road or the town of Marble. Whitehouse, Chair, and other large paths all appeared intact.
Avalanche
None observed