Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Touring from the Fowler hillard hut for the past three days we found a very reactive surface hoar layer that has been well talked about. We were touring a ridge to the west/southwest of the hut at an elevation 11,800, skiing north east to east aspects. Many of the paths off the ridge were triggered from small ski cuts or small pieces of cut cornice on Sunday. One slide propagated about 200 feet wide, crown line of 1ft and ran nearly full path very rapidly, about 500.vertical feet. Interestingly the bed surface maintained lots of intact surface hoar. Relative size seemed to be tied directly to stiffness of the softslab. Also had a noticeable ice layer develop Sunday night even as high as 12,000 feet. Thanks for doing what you do.=