Aspen

There were scattered clouds all day and some snow was blowing around, but not very efficient wind loading into start zones.

About 6 inches of new snow fell during the most recent storm. We triggered a few D1 loose dry avalanches that ran about 400-500 ft in steep terrain. On a north-facing wind-loaded slope around 11,500 ft, we observed a thin rain crust from the Christmas storm. This crust is present in most areas where snow coverage remains continuous. The crust is decomposing with large faceted grains forming both above and below the crust. We observed propagation in two Extended Column Tests, both failing below the rain crust. Two Propagation Saw Tests resulted in full propagation as well after cutting less than 1/3 of the column. In one of the Extended Column Tests, failure occurred both below the rain crust and on a deeper layer (see snow profile in media), indicating the potential for step down failures in areas where a cohesive slab exists. We observed isolated cracking and collapsing in wind drifted terrain with the largest collapse propagating out only about 15 ft. No continuous slab was observed in non wind loaded terrain.