Vail & Summit County
AvalancheDrew Gibson · Dec 5, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Warm, mostly clear and mostly calm.
Snowpack
Very hard wind drifted snow. Slab thickness varied 10cm to 80cm and it was hollow sounding. Though some small test slopes had shooting cracks and collapsed from the thin spots, larger slopes had much thicker slabs and were difficult to affect. Identifying thin spots on the slab was not possible and I was not going to venture out there. Under the slab rests large grain facets, the layer is variable but I observed 10cm to 30cm thick.
Avalanche
Steep wind-loaded terrain feature over a road. The slide did not reach the road like it has in the past. The hard slab chunks were difficult to skin over. The avalanche was also reported here: https://avalanche.state.co.us/observations/field-report/50870c6f-6356-4d62-98b7-d11d36d9e738