Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Kreston Rohrig · Jan 27, 2025 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

It was a beautiful sunny day with zero clouds and no wind.

Snowpack

The snowpack on the steep northwest-facing bowl was heavily wind-affected and thin. Most surfaces were wind-hardened, and there didn't appear to be well-developed slabs on this aspect. The northeast-facing bowl (AK face) was much less wind-affected, but the snowpack was fully faceted and lacked any supportable slab. Around 60cm of small facets were sitting on 30cm of well-developed depth hoar near the ground. This is a scary setup for future storms, as the weak snow looked widespread throughout the start zones. Stability tests had no propagating results.