Aspen
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek Jewel Campbell · Jan 24, 2024 · Aspen
Weather
Overcast skies with low clouds affected visibility in the morning. Falling snow started around 11,000'. Early afternoon cleared up a bit, and the sun came through a few times as we descended back to the truck. Wind was calm, temps just below freezing at 11,000', and well above freezing at 8,000'.
Snowpack
The height of snow (HS) below treeline and on wind-sheltered slopes varied between about 70-120cm. HS on wind-loaded slopes near and above the treeline up to around 12,000 feet increased to around 140-180cm on average. The areas where the snowpack is thinner (lower elevations below treeline, on wind-sheltered slopes, and on wind-scoured slopes primarily facing southerly and westerly directions) consistently showed unstable snowpack test results with extended column tests (ECT) often getting propagating failures on isolation or within 10 taps and consistent collapses occasionally accompanies by cracks in the snow. Where the snowpack is deeper (higher elevations on northerly and easterly slopes and on wind-loaded slopes) the snowpack shows no signs of instability even when stomping and trying to target shallow spots and snowpack tests show mostly stable results with ECTx's and a propagation saw test (PST) failing after cutting about 33% of the column. The slab characteristics in the shallow area were around 1F to P- hard (on the hand hardness scale) at the base of the slab for around 10-20cm while the base of the slab in the deep area was P hard for about 50cm at the bottom of the slab. While ski penetration was supportable on most slopes boot penetration was often over 70cm deep to the ground in the shallow area and rarely deeper than 35cm in the deeper area further indicating how much more supportable the slab is here.
Avalanche
Many small to large avalanches were observed mostly below and near treeline while most of the avalanches that occurred at higher elevations likely filled back in and are no longer visible.