Aspen

Cool morning warmed nicely with ample sunshine and slightly increasing high thin clouds.

Past weather events (wind storm in mid-December, warm temperatures, and Christmas rain event) created variable conditions in higher elevation terrain. There, I found a bomber crust that reminded me of my time in Washington in the mid-pack (hard to cut through it with a saw and shovel). This crust was knife-hard and capped faceted grains beneath near the ground. While small-grained faceted crystals were observed on top of the crust as well, the overlying 6" was soft and again lacked the slab characteristic. Southeast-facing slopes were supportable with a ski penetration just through that top 6" (15cms). The crust below was generally 4cm thick.