Aspen
AvalancheBrandon Levy · Nov 7, 2024 · Aspen
Weather
It was snowing about 1 cm per hour when I started up the thinly covered road at the valley bottom. By 0900 the sky began to clear and transitioned to scattered cloud cover by midday--glopping was an issue. The temperature also warmed from the low teens at the trailhead to mid to upper twenties by midday. Light easterly wind was not visibly transporting snow.
Snowpack
The snow depth increased on the north-facing slopes in upper Express Creek from about 45cms at 11000' to about 55-65cms at 11600'. The snow below the treeline was unconsolidated and uniform while the snowpack near the treeline was more layered and held a thin layer of faceted snow near the base. The snow overlying this faceted layer was soft and not capable of communicating a failure across the column with extended column tests on both north and northwest-facing slopes.
Avalanche
Several small (D1) slab avalanches occurred on the slopes below Taylor Pass that face northwest through north. I'd guess Tuesday night (November 5th) based on the snow that was on the debris piles.