Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

New snow since January 24 has settled to 30-50 cm. There are several distinct layers within the new snow, but none of them currently have much significance for avalanche danger. In general, the layers are not strong enough to contain cracks along their interfaces. Facets are already forming in the top few centimeters. We found surface hoar at the pre-January 24 snow surface (30-50 cm down), but no crack propagation along this interface in snowpit tests. Basal facets are still quite weak, but in many places they were below a ~80 cm thick pencil hard layer. HS varies from around 130 to 200 cm. In most areas the midpack is gaining strength, supportable, and quite strong. Although we found surface hoar on the Jan 24th interface, it was not very distinct and the grains were rounded. Not a problematic layer in this area, but we mostly traveled on southerly aspects. In some of the low-elevation clear cuts the midpack was not nearly as thick or strong. We could still impact the basal faceted layer. We saw no cracking and heard no whumpfs.