Vail & Summit County
SnowpackIan Fowler · May 13, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Skies were mostly cloudy in the morning and became partially cloudy after about 1pm. Winds were moderate from the northeast.
Snowpack
Close to an avalanche from Sunday on one flank that faced south there was about 85cm of snow and on the other flank that faced more southeasterly there was around 300cm of snow. On the deeper flank there was over 120cm of cold white storm snow above the obvious dirty crust from the pre storm. The avalanche was triggered on a layer of rounding facets/defragmenting particles down about 25-30cm. This layer most likely formed on Saturday night before the last wave of snow and wind on Sunday morning. At 1pm the surface of the snow was still cold and not wetting much. As I dropped over to an easterly aspect that was sheltered from the wind the snow was more moist and as i descended ski penetration increased markedly. Ascending back to the ridge the snow was wet and soft below about 12500feet with ski penetration around 5-10cm. Above about 12500 the snow was still pretty firm with minimal ski penetration.