Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAustin DiVesta · Dec 29, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Mostly cloudy with snow flurries. Temperature were cold for the entire day. Towards the end of the day the sun started to break through the clouds.
Snowpack
We dug a handful of pits on west, northwest, and northeast slopes below treeline, and they all had very poor structure. We traveled from 9600ft to 10400ft in a much shallower part of the Vail and Summit County Zone. This last storm helped increase the snow coverage at lower elevations. However, these shady slopes below treeline hold on to well-developed facets near the ground. We observed only three primary layers on all aspects today, which were the storm from the 26-27th and then the 24th-25th and then early season snow from most likely November. While the slab at the lower end of treeline isn’t as thick or stiff as near and above treeline they still pose a danger. We triggered numerous collapsing that whumpfed almost anywhere we stepped out of the skin track. Snowpit observations revealed very easy propagation results. Things are still spooky out there. You can expect to find this poor snowpack structure starting to reach more slopes