Aspen

Avalanche

Anonymous · Mar 3, 2015 · Aspen

Weather

Visibility was poor. It was very still most of day, snowing lightly to heavily, with a 20 min gusty period about 4pm. Total new snow since last night about 4-6", very light. Air temp -10C, got colder as day progressed. About 3" very light snow fell while we were out skiing.

Snowpack

The snowpack was fist top half, to 4 finger bottom half new snow, but once we got above the Study Plot, there was a thicker layer that we stayed on top of, maybe 8" down, so there must have been wind or heavy/warmer snow yesterday. We had no collapses, nothing alarming, but played it safe. I have a suspicion that above Lunch Spot, there was a different snowpack. As it was, Lunch Spot down was heavenly with nothing scary to report. We didn't do an ECT, just quick pit.

Avalanche

We saw six or so small slabs near the road, not much higher in elevation above road, but they didn't run much, appeared to be 1-2foot crowns. Nothing new moved up higher that we could see, but again, we couldn't see much.