Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

New soft wind slab on top of hard stiff slab on top of facets. Avalanche slid on faceted depth hoar approx 20-30 cm off ground. Slab was 20-100+ cm thick and growing rapidly. I did not hear anything when I triggered it. I wondered if it was a natural release at first. I saw it just as the slab started moving away from the crown and started breaking up. There was significant wumpfing and cracking on my approach to the bowl. I did not dig a snow profile on the crown because of my concern over hangfire and the fact that I was solo.