Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · Apr 1, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Broken skies with a few short-lived snow squalls. Winds from the northwest.
Snowpack
Where I dug on unsheltered northerly near treeline slopes, I did not observe any near-surface facet layers above the early March (3/3) dust layer but below the most recent snow from the end of March. On Buffalo Mountain on 3/19, the surface snow was faceted with surface hoar grains on sheltered northerly slopes. Given that observation, I was surprised not to find any obvious faceted layers below the storm snow in this location. I did get non-propagating results in Extended Column Tests in a softer layer of decomposing fragments just below the most recent storm snow. This layer was 50-70cm deep and is my primary layer of concern on those aspects. On a southeast aspect, the uppermost crust and some soft snow below it failed on isolation while preparing an ECT. This is likely the same interface that the non-propagating results on northerly slopes failed on. I think the reactivity of this result was due to the crust being isolated and less indicative of a highly unstable layer near the surface. That said, this is the most likely interface where you could trigger an avalanche. It is guarded by a thin, albeit supportable crust on the surface and is only 15-20cm deep. There was also a propagating result after 5 blows from the shoulder below the dust layer. The crusts above, and including the dust layer, were up to five inches thick and it's unlikely you could affect the snowpack below those crusts. The height of snow where I dug my snowpits ranged from about 180cm in thinner areas and on the southeast slope to over 300cm on drifted northerly-facing slopes; averaging close to 250cm. I noticed a couple of recent avalanches from the most recent snow on steep, northerly slopes and many Loose Wet avalanches that only entrained surface snow on southerly slopes.