Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams · Mar 22, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Snowfall averaged an inch per hour with a few short periods of broken skies. Temperatures were in the 20s and winds were generally light from the southwest. As I descended late in the afternoon, the wind increased to moderate.
Snowpack
At the base of the mountain, the temperature was around 32 degrees, however, precipitation was still snow. The Beaver Creek Ski Patrol reported three inches of new snow at 5 am and there was likely an additional six inches by 1 pm. In a snowpit on an east aspect at about 11,900 feet there was about 10 inches of new storm snow. I ascended a north-facing ridge along a steep easterly-facing slope. At a gap in the large cornice, I was able to push some surface snow onto the steep slope and trigger a small avalanche within the storm snow. The crown was about two inches deep and 100 feet wide. The avalanche ran approximately 600 vertical feet. On a similar slope, I triggered another small avalanche remotely while skinning on the ridge. This avalanche ran on the melt-freeze crust below the new snow but arrested quickly as the slope was not continuously steep. The crown here was about 16 to 8 inches deep. Extended Column Test results mirrored these observations, with easy non-propagating results within the storm and at the interface with the melt-freeze crust. The snowpack was generally dry, but the storm snow was verging on moist, especially below the interface where the first avalanche ran. On the ascent and while I dug the wind was generally light and not moving much snow. As I descended, the wind increased from the southwest and began moving snow into leeward features.
Avalanche
I triggered two small avalanches on east-facing slopes near treeline.