Aspen

Snowpack

Sean Smollen · Feb 28, 2021 · Aspen

Weather

Beaut of a day. -2 degrees celsius air temp, shaded, on a NE aspect @ 9400'. Winds were calm throughout tour. Scattered skies all day. No precipitation and no blowing snow observed.

Snowpack

3 wildly different snowpack structures observed below treeline today. On protected North facing aspects bottomless facets rule supreme, with no slab present. SW aspects hold under 30cm of snow and have a strong crust in the top 5cm that boots could penetrate but supported skis. In isolated places N-E BTL there is a windblown slab with January facets below. In a pit on a NE aspects at 9400', the windblown snow served as our slab. January facets were the enabler and the weak layer. An irregular ice lens divided the January facets and this 1F windblown slab. All tests failed in the facets below the ice lens and showed propagation. ECTP28@41cm, CT22SC@41cm