Aspen

Snowpack

Brian McCall · Nov 7, 2011 · Aspen

View on map

Weather

Broken skies and calm winds late morning. Overcast skies by 1pm. No precipitation. A few light snow showers visible around Continental Divide and Independence Pass.

Snowpack

Below treeline on the shady aspects, a shallow snowpack exists consisting of decomposing recent snow grains in the upper half of the snowpack and facets in the lower half. Surface hoar found on top of the snowpack in sheltered areas. Snow depths below treeline varied from 15-30 cm today. Near treeline, snowpack depths increase to an average of 70 cm. Two layers of faceted snow grains in the lower 30cm of the snowpack (on shady aspects) are the most problematic ones at this time. These resulted in hard, but fast and clean shears in several tests. Triggered avalanches most likely to occur on these layers.