Vail & Summit County
Quick reportKreston Rohrig · Jan 3, 2026 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Warm and calm day with high, thin clouds.
Snowpack
As described above, there is a considerable amount of variability, ranging from extremely hard, slick buried layers to extremely weak ones. In most of the weak snowpack areas, there was not a cohesive enough slab to be a problem at the moment. In other wind-affected areas, the overlying slab is thick enough and cohesive enough to be a problem. Snowpack depths were all over the board, depending on loading. We found thinner areas, ranging from 65cm (fully faceted) to 130cm, in drifted areas off the ridge.
Avalanche
We spoke with another backcountry traveler who reported a remotely triggered avalanche in the lower portions of "Old Mans". Another friend sent me the Instagram photos. We couldn't see it from the ridge, but it appears to have pulled out below one of the lower rock bands.