Aspen
AvalancheBrian Lazar · May 15, 2019 · Aspen
Weather
Warm and mostly calm except a light breeze at ridge/mountain top above 12,500 ft. Mostly clear skies at daybreak gradually became partly cloudy by later morning.
Snowpack
Average snowpack depth is around 200cm above treeline. There was a decent surface freeze overnight. The surface freeze is a few inches deep and quickly softened by 8am, even on north-facing terrain. Snowpack was still supportable on due north around 10AM, but any other aspect and all low-elevation slopes becoming punchy by late morning. Above 12,500 ft northerly slopes have a 60cm thick 1F hard slab that has not yet seen much if any melt water infiltration. There is a crust-facet combination about 60cm down that could be a concern once water run along this interface. This will take a fairly substantial warm up, without good nighttime freezes for at least 3 days.
Avalanche
Numerous small Loose Wet avalanches coming out of steep rock terrain over the last couple days. Observed one large (D2) wet slab off the southeast side of Green Mountain that looks like it ran a few days ago. A small (D1)wet slab ran yesterday on a wet aspect of Twining Peak, and a small (D1) wet slab ran off a northeast of Independence mountain this afternoon.