Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams · Dec 5, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Temperatures in the teens quickly warmed into the 20s with calm to light winds and ample sunshine.
Snowpack
While the snowpack is still thin, there is now continuous snow cover across most terrain and travel is much easier. The good news ends there. I heard rumbling collapses on northerly and westerly aspects near treeline. There wasn't much cracking, but some of the collapses shook snow off of trees. In every snowpit I dug, I saw propagation at the top of the depth hoar layer in Extended Column Tests after only a few taps from the wrist and in one pit, propagation occurred upon isolation. I dug on west, north, and northeast-facing slopes. Recently avalanche activity confirms that the snowpack is tender at the moment and you can easily trigger avalanches. It looks like some very small Wind Slab avalanches ran just below the ridgeline on southerly-facing slopes during the storm. However, triggering avalanches at the ground is the bigger concern and with the warm weather and light winds new snow instabilities have likely subsided. Northerly and easterly-facing slopes are still the most likely place to trigger an avalanche.
Avalanche
Avalanches to the ground on steep northerly slopes and a few very small avalanches within the newly drifted snow on easterly slopes just below ridgelines.