Aspen
AvalancheAnonymous · Jan 22, 2015 · Aspen
Weather
Partly cloudy with no wind.
Snowpack
Apparent Localized wind slab on the northerly aspect of Mt. Justice below 1-3" of new snow and in some places 6-8". Column test reacted after 10 hand taps. Pit dug at 11,500 at a roughly NW aspect on Mt. Justice. Snow pack at that location mostly faceted but weak layers evident. Did not propagate. Noticed old crown on skin track we put in above Anthracite pass at a steep convexity. Did not feel comfortable traversing across the gullies so skinned up the southerly ridge to Marble peak. Snow pack on that skin track was very faceted which made for difficult skinning. We observed no signs of instability on the track. The wind layer evident on Justice was not felt on the skin track. In the Marble area- ski cut some sloughs on shaded easterly faces in the fridge and skiing out above "Middle Earth" on the last steep pitch. The sloughs did not step down in either instance. The rest of the pack felt faceted while pole plumbing throughout the tour.
Avalanche
Just surface sloughs on steeper pitches.