Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Kreston Rohrig · Dec 14, 2025 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Clear day with a few lenticular clouds forming over the high peaks to the east with calm winds.

Snowpack

The snowpack is faceting from the top down and bottom up. There were around 10cm of near-surface facets at the surface, a weakening 15cm mid-pack, and 20cm of facets and depth hoar at the ground. Even in stiffer wind-drifted areas, the snowpack and remaining slabs are breaking down. Test results showed easy failures, but they did not propagate through the column, indicating that the chances of triggering an avalanche are decreasing and becoming unlikely. We will see short-term stability improve as slabs lose the ability to propagate fractures, but we will have a more widespread weak layer as we enter the next round of storms.