Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Scott Toepfer · Mar 24, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Cold. Moderate to strong SE winds. Fair amount of Hn. Made me think of a cold day north of Banff, Alberta, in mid-January. Or maybe around Tromso Norway on a really cold Arctic day. Most definitely drifting the new snow on to west aspects We had a mid day break, sort of, in cloud cover and those bitter SE winds. By 3 PM it was snowing S2.

Snowpack

There were places we could post hole to the ground. It was deep. Almost too old to extricate myself. Also Some shooting cracks on freshly wind loaded 30-32* westerly aspects above TL. These Appeared to be just in the new snow.

Avalanche

An even dozen SSNR1D1O, some long runners. Couple bordering on D1.5. Ran in the last 12 hours. Cross and top loaded west aspects. 5 near TL, 7 above TL. Guess I would classify them as Wind Slab Avalanches. SE winds were ideal speeds for loading. Slabs entrained recent snow only, estimate crowns at 12-24". Several ran 1,000' vertical.