Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Backcountry Babes Level 1 · Dec 12, 2015 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Observed overcast skies, S1 from around 13:00-15:30, Light wind from NW. No Blowing snow @ 11,175 , West Aspect. Temperature not observed, group felt temperature dropping throughout the afternoon.

Snowpack

Touring up South facing slopes showed evidence of new snow on top of ground in many places BTL, we also observed New snow with poor bonding to crust on South facing slope BTL. Tiny isolated loose sluff on South Facing slope at 45* from a dropping tree pillow PIT SIGHT: WEST MEADOW BALDY MOUNTAIN WEST FACING 11,175 Height of snow ranged from 80-90cm Pits showed- 30cm new snow- low density test results easy failures at the new snow old snow interface All pits found basal facets at ground up some up to 15cm worth Some tests results showed failures on these faceted layers (CTHSC@13cm) Snowpack was thin, many obstacles still present