Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Austin DiVesta Ryan Zarter · Jan 13, 2022 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Temperatures above freezing for the day. There was little to no wind at all even above treeline on the ridge. High altitude clouds moved into the area later in the day.

Snowpack

We mainly traveled on southerly-facing slopes below and near treeline. Cold nights and warm daytime temperatures created a 2-3cm sun crust on these southerly aspects. We observed no signs of instabilities even as we traveled to more northerly aspects near treeline. Snowpack observations revealed a snow height of 93cm with a dense mid-pack resting on top of sizeable (3-4mm) basal depth hoar. We performed an extended column test that produced hard propagation results on a faceted layer 21cm from the ground. We probed around the area to get an idea of snow height ranging from 90cm to 150cm, all with a very similar structure. Some takeaways from today; avalanches are becoming harder to trigger, but they will still be very destructive if you find a thinner portion of the slope and southerly aspects below treeline were becoming moist with these warmer temperatures.