Vail & Summit County
SnowpackDrew Gibson · Jan 9, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Overcast with light winds near treeline. Steady westerly winds above treeline were transporting snow. Periods of S1 snowfall increasing toward late afternoon. The sun poked out a couple of times but visibility was mostly obscured.
Snowpack
Climbing up west-facing trees the new snow has done little to help the shallow and unsupportive snowpack. The old persistent slab is mostly faceted out. The new snow was very light and easily moved with light winds. Near treeline the wind speeds were lighter than expected and the wind slabs were 10cm to 30cm thick. In many places you could punch through the slab with skis on. Above about 12,000ft the slabs were thicker and very firm. I could not punch through the slab with a pole handle in many places. Shooting cracks initiated in the thinner slab areas would communicate well into the thicker, harder slab. I could not determine how deep the cracking was in the thicker areas due to seemingly impenetrable surface conditions and constant wind transport. Cracking was isolated to the wind-loaded pillows and features immediately below the ridge top. I saw evidence of one pillow that cracked up and calved off some large blocks. I think this was triggered by a party in front of me, but the wind transport had already filled in the tracks along the ridge. Significant wind-transported snow was not observed below the near ridge top loading zones. The snowpack near treeline on the NE aspect was mostly unsupportive.