Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Jon Lowe · Apr 22, 2014 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

very gusty then clearing on summit, temperature around freezing, just starting to feel warm up high before noon, maybe somewhat of a mild temperature inversion overnight, N/NE aspect around 14000ft

Snowpack

about 4-6 inches of soft snow on top of variably firm dust layer, initial test cuts at top of gully (at about 1400 ft) were very reassuring but not representative of the snow 500 ft down, which was actually a bit dryer and less dense. Also some of the gully walls lower down flared up facing somewhat E/NE

Avalanche

triggered a small slide initially about 20'x20', only about a 5" crown at about 13,500ft in N Gully off Quandary. It was the classic small avalanche in a bad place that forecasters diligently warn us about. It went about 1200 feet down to the valley, fortunately I was able to maneuver out of it after sledding down with it for about a 100 feet, but not by much. This is not to be confused with "sluff management." This event could easily have turned out worse. Don't trust the dust!