Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAnonymous · Dec 5, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Mostly sunny with some high clouds. Very windy. It was tough to stand at ridgetop. Light snow transport on isolated peaks.
Snowpack
I dug one pit on the way up on a northwest-facing sheltered slope. The snow depth was 45 cm and completely faceted. Surface hoar on a thin crust at the surface over more facets and then 2-4 mm depth hoar at the ground. I mostly targeted east-facing slopes today. They are thin with only about 30 cm of snow. There is a thick melt-freeze crust, about an inch thick, on due east-facing slopes. If you turn slightly the north, the crust is much thinner and breakable. If you turn more to the southeast the crust is even firmer, to the point where ski crampons would help on steep slopes. I also dug in one wind-loaded area that faced east-northeast. This was the deepest area I could find with a 95 cm deep snowpack. Stacks of hard slabs on thin layers facets produced no propagating results in an ECT. Very different from just a few feet down slope and more characteristic of the highly variable alpine snowpack. Near treeline is consistent and weak and will the most reactive elevation band (especially on northeast) with small amounts of snow.