Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Kreston Rohrig · Dec 22, 2019 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Warm with filtered high, thin clouds. Calm winds at ridgeline were welcomed and made travel comfortable.

Snowpack

Below treeline the recently formed slabs are losing strength and will be less likely to produce avalanches. This is a limited view as I only traveled on W and S aspects BTL. I dug near treeline on a NE facing slope and found a deep snowpack on the leeward side of the ridge. HS ranged from 110-160cm and consisted of some very dense layers throughout the mid-pack. The surface snow was faceting and losing strength, while the basal facets were bonding and gaining strength. See attached profile for more information

Avalanche

Only old avalanches were observed. However, the one above lost lake was pushing D2.5-D3. It looked to have failed to the ground during the storm and leftover chunks were massive.