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Much of the Aspen zone missed out on any new snowfall in the last 24 hours, but the Schofield Pass/Marble area picked up 2 to 3 inches or so. This pushed storm totals over the last couple days to 7to 14 inches of total snow accumulation. West to northwest winds have built small fresh wind slabs around a foot thick on easterly aspects. In more sheltered terrain, you can expect the new storm snow to run in loose sluffs. Avalanches in the storm snow will be small, but they will be easy to trigger on slopes steeper than 35 degrees today.
Other than the new soft slabs, avalanche danger is slowly decreasing in the backcountry, but we still have a snowpack with very dangerous strong over weak layering on many slopes. Layers in the middle and upper snowpack are stiffening and gaining strength, and reactive surface hoar can be found in the upper meter of the snowpack. This strengthening upper layer gives the snowpack a deceptively strong feel as you travel through the backcountry, especially in the southwestern portion of the Aspen zone where recent storm snow totals were deeper. The underlying snow, however, is quite weak. Triggering a persistent slab is possible on most aspects on slopes steeper than 30 degrees. The likelihood of triggering one of the slabs is gradually easing over time, but should one release, it could large and destructive. A small release in the storm snow has the potential to step down and trigger these deeper layers.
<p>Much of the Aspen zone missed out on any new snowfall in the last 24 hours, but the Schofield Pass/Marble area picked up 2 to 3 inches or so. This pushed storm totals over the last couple days to 7to 14 inches of total snow accumulation. West to northwest winds have built small fresh wind slabs around a foot thick on easterly aspects. In more sheltered terrain, you can expect the new storm snow to run in loose sluffs. Avalanches in the storm snow will be small, but they will be easy to trigger on slopes steeper than 35 degrees today. <br /><br />Other than the new soft slabs, avalanche danger is slowly decreasing in the backcountry, but we still have a snowpack with very dangerous strong over weak layering on many slopes. Layers in the middle and upper snowpack are stiffening and gaining strength, and <a href="http://avalanche.state.co.us/fx/">reactive surface hoar </a>can be found in the upper meter of the snowpack. This strengthening upper layer gives the snowpack a deceptively strong feel as you travel through the backcountry, especially in the southwestern portion of the Aspen zone where recent storm snow totals were deeper. The underlying snow, however, is quite weak. Triggering a persistent slab is possible on most aspects on slopes steeper than 30 degrees. The likelihood of triggering one of the slabs is gradually easing over time, but should one release, it could large and destructive. A small release in the storm snow has the potential to step down and trigger these deeper layers.</p>
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