Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Mar 16, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
A bit of everything- filtered sun, clouds, and very brief periods of inch/hr snowfall
Snowpack
I dug on two east-facing slopes and found the same crust/facet combination about 40 cm down that we are finding in many areas of the state. Even with settlement, the slab is still soft and at most 12 inches thick. This weak layers combination is most prevalent on sheltered slopes where the slab is thin. I poked around a few wind-drifted slopes and the snowpack was different- the crust/facet combo was absent. No obvious signs on instability were observed. Besides some concerns around upper persistent weak layers, the snowpack is deep and fairly strong on easterly slopes near and below treeline. Weak layers exist near the ground but they are sintering, gaining strength and again unlikely to trigger.
Avalanche
None observed