Our group went for a tour this afternoon in the Aspen Grove area to investigate the wet snow and to view the recent avalanche activity from a safe distance. Almost immediately, we walked past debris piles of many wet avalanches from the prior two days at mid and lower elevations (see photos below), all of which were on north-facing slopes. As we walked further, we observed multiple wet loose avalanches coming down from the north-facing slopes above (see video). All these avalanches seemed to be initiating at cliff/rock bands, and some were able to pick up quite a bit of debris due to how wet the upper snowpack is. We did not observe avalanches on south-facing slopes for two reasons. First, there was no snow below 8500' on south-facing slopes. Additionally, southerlies and westerly facing slopes that were holding snow up high have been exposed to the sun and warm-up process for a longer period and have subsequently been shedding more frequently than north-facing slopes.

We stopped to dig a snowpit on a north-facing slope at 7200' (HS: 220 cm) to observe how well water could percolate down through the upper snowpack. We slowly poured about a half-liter of dyed water along the snow surface. As seen in the photo below, we observed water flowing to a depth of 135 cm (85 cm beneath the snow surface). Some of the water was pooling along with a resistant layer at a depth of 170 cm (50 cm beneath the snow surface). It was clear to see how easily water was moving through this snowpack.

It was an eerie afternoon in the Aspen Grove area. The audible rumbling of wet avalanches coming down from above would have surely grabbed the attention of anyone leaving the parking lot. Today was day 4 of an uninterrupted thaw cycle in the region, I imagine the mountains will continue to un-glue themselves before temperatures cool next week.