Aspen
AvalanchePolly Layton · Feb 23, 2021 · Gunnison
Weather
A warm, sunny day with temperatures well above freezing in the late morning. Around 1:30pm skies became high overcast. Driving in I observed flagging on many peaks with strong winds at ridge tops. On the tour in, gusts were knocking snow off of the trees with gusts of 10-20. By about 2pm at the ridge top the winds died and it was calm.
Snowpack
A well consolidated snowpack sits over 70cm of of facets. CT(22)SC down 80 on 2mm rounding facets. North aspects had cold snow above 9,000ft; not observed at lower elevations. South and southwest were moist snow for the top 50cm. There was a 3cm crust on the snow surface at 10,000 ft and below, on southerly aspects, by 3pm.
Avalanche
Two large naturals had pulled out on northeast facing slopes of Treasure Mountain. Several R1D1 wet slabs were observed from the afternoon of February 22, 2021.