Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Feb 8, 2019 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Sunny day with high thin clouds. Light winds at ridgeline continued to drift what little snow was left in windward fetches.
Snowpack
I dug on a NE facing slope near treeline on a heavily wind-loaded slope. I moved off of the ridge about 20m to get down to where the slab was thinner. Just below ridgeline, the height of snow ranged from 2-3 meters deep. This site was near to a very large avalanche that was reported back on 1/29. Below the wind-drifted surface I found two concerning layers of facets 45cm down and 70cm down, sandwiched between hard slabs. The lower slab/facet layer combo was the likely culprit in the 1/29 avalanche. The problem with this type of layering is that the stiff slabs above the weak layer can handle a bigger load before they fail, creating much larger avalanches.
Avalanche
Only an the large avalanche reported on 1/29 and some older crown lines that have started to fill in. Impressive though, you could see the giant divot from where a giant cornice chunk failed and triggered the 1/29 avalanche.