Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Apr 11, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Gusty winds especially before noon. A mix of sun and clouds.

Snowpack

I went to a near-treeline northwest-facing slope to assess how much this particular area has transitioned into a spring snowpack. The short answer is- Not much. A 1-inch thick surface melt-freeze crust caps a wintery snowpack. There is evidence of an ice lens from previous melt water about 1 to 2 feet from the surface but no percolation columns were observed. Depth hoar at the bottom of the pack is large (up to 8 mm) and dry. The snow depth varied from 100 cm to 180 cm on the slope I looked at. Although the depth varies, the snowpack is fairly similar with dry, basal weak layers. This is important because this means that wet avalanche activity has yet to peak on near to above treeline northerly aspects. A warm period later in the spring could result in a wet avalanche cycle in these areas whereas most other slopes that were previously wet would be much less active.---The snow surface on westerly-facing slopes was still mostly frozen as of 2 PM. No signs of instability observed with a supportable snowpack from trailhead to ridge.