Aspen
AvalancheColin Mitchell · Dec 14, 2016 · Aspen
Weather
Light snow began as I started my profile, and continued through the rest of the tour. Otherwise, overcast with a light, westerly breeze. Warm and humid.
Snowpack
HS in the bowl was around 60 cm. Winds this weekend re-distributed the newer snow leaving anywhere from 5-25 cm of F hard rounding PP above a supportable mid-pack slab. Older snow layers are rounding and strengthening. The Nov. 18th layer of moist facets found all around the area has rounded and strengthened significantly, and is no longer reactive to snowpack tests. Unfortunately, a thin layer of near-surface facets was buried sometime during the series of small storms we have had over the past ten days. This layer was reactive to compression tests (CT11 SC x2) but did not propagate on an ECT (ECTX x2). It sits right above the 4F+ mid-pack slab and below the recent snows. The newer snow above the facets is currently too soft to support propagation. Additional loading or settlement might change the results. This appears to be a short-lived instability given the current temps and may strengthen some before the next storm. Lower down on the pass, the snowpack showed the affects of last week's warm spell. Snow was moist and well consolidated with a thin crust below today's 1/2" of new. Flatiron and the other paths that line the road are currently below threshold, but have enough coverage to smooth over the rocks and vegetation, around 6" of well consolidated snow. Avalanches here would likely be confined to storm related instabilities.
Avalanche
None reported or observed