Vail & Summit County
AvalancheBrian Rodine · Apr 19, 2015 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Socked in, temp right around freezing or slightly above. No wind.
Snowpack
1-2 feet of storm snow on top of melt freeze bed surface or bare ground. Slight rain layer near valley floor.
Avalanche
While skinning up the ridge, came upon two skiers descending who indicated they had just triggered a slide in the chutes we were going to look at. We decided to go have a look and take pictures. Skier looked to have entered into the chute in boots, and triggered a fracture that started above him and wrapped around into the north side of the entrance. Crown looked to be around two feet, wind loaded storm snow on a bed of melt/freeze ice. Skier climbed back out on boots, got lucky.slide ran the entire way into the drainage, maybe 700-800 ft.