Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Justina Liss · Dec 16, 2022 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

11,600ft, S face. Air temp 5 degrees F at 11:30 am. Moderate to strong winds. Partly sunny skies turning overcast throughout the day.

Snowpack

Quick pit on a south face at 11.6 on North Star just below the forest service road revealed a thin snowpack. Slope angle of 20 degrees. Total of 23 cm of snow. Bottom 7cm were large, fist-hard facets, with a 3cm one-finger hard layer on top of it, followed by 12 cm of fist-hard unconsolidated snow and a 3cm finger hard wind crust. The forest service road was very drifted in. In some places the wind drift supported me on skis and in other spots I broke through, also causing the snow around me to settle. (SE-S aspects)