Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Nov 27, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
The sky was primarily overcast with intermittent snowfall, occasionally opening to patchy blue skies. The winds were light from the west.
Snowpack
The snowpack showed consistent signs of instability as I moved through undisturbed snow. Large rumbling collapses were numerous but somewhat muffled due to the massive new load. The east-facing ridgeline I was investigating had a massive fetch to the west and continued to fill with wind-drifted snow. Looking at the crown of the avalanche I remotely triggered, I found a soft Fist to Fist+ slab, which was many feet thick, that failed on a thin layer of facets at the ground.
Avalanche
Plenty of old crown lines had drifted back in, likely running last night or very early this morning. I remotely triggered a large avalanche from around 200' away along the ridgeline. The maximum height of the crown was pushing seven feet. This is a heavily wind-loaded, broad, easterly-facing ridge. The slab was still soft and consisted mainly of new or recently drifted snow, failing on a thin layer of facets at the ground.