Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Feb 13, 2016 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Scattered cloud in the morning became overcast by afternoon. Warm out of the wind but cool on ridgelines with a light to moderate westerly wind.

Snowpack

Below treeline is faceted. Supportable until the crust melts and then unsupportable. Sunny aspects have a thick melt-freeze crust capping the faceted snowpack. I got two collapses in these areas but not much hazard without a slab.---At the upper elevations of BTL terrain and all of NTL terrain there is a supportable mid-pack slab. Depth hoar is strong and it would take a very large load for an avalanche to break on basal layers.---The main layer of concern is a layer of intact surface hoar buried from 30 to 40cms from the surface. This layer showed propagation in some tests but not all. The distribution would be sheltered northerly terrain. This observation of surface hoar matches several other observations in this zone. This layer may be widespread and cause trouble if loaded. It is possible that some of the avalanche activity from the last cycle failed on this layer but cannot confirm.---ATL is ravaged by the wind. North and west start zones scoured down to the ground. Deeper pockets of snow downslope and lee of terrain features with hard slab characteristics.