Vail & Summit County
AvalancheRyan Zarter · Dec 2, 2018 · Vail & Summit County
Snowpack
Snow depth on a S aspect (Spider Slide) was 20cm and consisted of the most recent storm snow on top of a melt-freeze crust. This crust sits on the ground in places, and on about 5-10cm of facets in other places. These facets are more than likely not present further down slope in the path. On a SW aspect, the snow depth was around 60cm. The upper 30cm consisted of storm snow that has accumulated since 11/23, and trends from fist hard at the surface to 4 finger as you move down. Below this the snowpack is mostly faceted, with a couple of harder melt-freeze crusts present. ECTP results below a pencil hard melt-freeze crust 7cm above the ground. See pit profile for more details.
Avalanche
One very small D0.51 loose avalanche was observed in the Spider Slide. Several very small D0.5 loose avalanches were observed out of the cliff bands in the Narrows.