Vail & Summit County
SnowpackScott Toepfer · Apr 25, 2014 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
High thin clouds with a few lenticulars north of us most of the day, after about 1 pm more blue sky, but still a fair amount of clouds. Cool winds and cloud cover helped to keep snow surface cool until we were skiing out at 2 PM. Quick snow pit at 12,000 ft SE aspect was -0.5 to -1C to around 65 cm deep, in a 340 cm deep snowpack. . At the summit of 13,852 ft Crystal Peak 10 cm snow temp was -4 C
Snowpack
Two nights with a good freeze...18 F & 20 F at my house, 10,200 ft. Dust layer 35 cm deep on SE aspect at 12,000 ft. Snow pack at this location was 340 cm deep. Wetting front at 50 cm deep. Ice lens at 70 cm deep. No signs of recent avalanche activity. Some thin wind slab on due north aspects looked to be eroding away. Saw sastrugi forms in the steeper N aspect terrain. Some smaller Wind Slab was above 13,000 feet, but not large or widespread. Probably a non-issue by Saturday.... just before next storm cycle arrives to return us to winter.