Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Jeff Dobronyi · Dec 10, 2022 · Vail & Summit County

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Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3

Weather

Fine weather, temps approaching freezing, few clouds, light W winds gusting to moderate, no snow available for transport near ridgetop.

Snowpack

HS below treeline was 50-70cm on shaded aspects, HS NTL was 70-90cm on shaded and wind sheltered aspects. Facets to the ground in most places where wind affect was not present. Snowpack largely unsupportable to ski travel off of existing skin tracks and skier compacted areas.

Avalanche

We noticed a HS-ASr-R2D2-O on a SE aspect, ATL, near Uneva Peak. It appears that a group was skinning up the drainage when they remotely triggered an avalanche about 100 meters away, then they ripped skins and bailed, I presume based on the photos.