Aspen

I only coded avalanches I could confirm without a doubt as there were many more that I thought were crowns or debris piles but couldn’t confirm. This avalanche cycle was by far the most destructive and widespread of the season. Most of the avalanches are mostly filled back in as they likely failed on the 18th during peak instability of the storm, but many crowns are still visible as well as large to very large debris piles filling up creeks and hitting valley floors.

Clear, cold morning with snow transport visible at ridgelines. Temperatures quickly warmed up and it turned into a warm, clear, and calm day by noon.

Around 4 to 5 feet of snow fell in this area since February 17 and settled into slabs about 3-4 feet thick in wind-sheltered slopes, and over 6 feet thick on wind-drifted slopes. The weak layer is still very well developed and not going away anytime soon. It is likely we are heading to a low-likelihood, high-consequence avalanche problem with a well-developed faceted base to our snowpack with a 3 to 5 foot thick slab now insulating backcountry travelers from the facets.