Vail & Summit County
AvalancheBrian Eggleton · Dec 28, 2013 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Blue Sky, light wind on the Uneva Peak ridge (not uncharacteristic for that section of ridge for there to be at least light wind). on the ridge about 330pm, 12/25/13. there had been solid blue sky and strong sun all day.
Snowpack
overall, fresh powder in the small bowl just south of Uneva Peak (between Uneva Peak and the west facing "burn section" slope) from the 12/24 storm. amazingly not very wind affected (at least on the surface) considering how violent the 2pm storm squall in Vail was 12/24. The ridge above the bowl and shoulder were, of course, very wind affected with the snow super chalky, dried out, and slabbed. snow was never deeper than a 125cm ski pole in the bowl or on lower aspect slopes in the trees below. on the ridge the snow was non-existent (brown south of Uneva Peak still) to slabbed out to 30cm.
Avalanche
2 naturally triggered avalanches were present in the bowl facing west below Uneva Peak and north of the shoulder from which the pictures were taken. The aspect would most likely be described as SW . Both avalanches were on the portion of the bowl facing more south that the direct west facing portion of the bowl. I did not venture down into the west-facing Uneva bowl for further inspection. Both slides looked to be point releases. It was surprising to see SW facing slope had slid that day, it is likely due to some combination of strong sun and just enough protection from the shoulder just to the West of that portion of the bowl that led to extra snow loading due to wind on 12/24. Estimated elevation on the shoulder from which the pictures were taken is 12,200ft.