Aspen

Quick report

Brian Lazar · Jan 23, 2026 · Gunnison

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Weather

S1 to S2 most of the morning, ramping up to S5 by the time I exited the field around 2:30PM. Conditions were mostly calm below treeline, but as we got near treeline, there was modest drifting. Couldn't see higher up due to obscured conditions, but expect drifting was much more pronounced in the alpine and along exposed ridgelines.

Snowpack

The total height of the snow is around 120cm. The top 20cm is low-density, accumulating storm snow, falling on 2 to 10cm of very weak near-surface facets. The only real structural integrity is a 60cm-thick 1F slab, split in the middle by the Christmas facets (we were above the crust line at 11400 feet). Below the mid-pack slabs are weak, large, large-grained facets to the ground. Avalanches could step into the Christmas layers or the basal facets; both layers were unreactive in snowpack tests and showed signs of strengthening. That said, this ongoing rapid, substantial load could be enough to trigger deeper breaking avalanches.

Avalanche

Triggered inconsequential sluffing in many areas. Triggered one D1.5 Dry Loose avalanche in steep northwest-facing, near treeline terrain.