Vail & Summit County
AvalancheWil Rickards · Mar 19, 2017 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Bluebird, gusty, especially on top. Did not freeze at TH the night before.
Snowpack
Snowpack is disappearing fast. Final 600 ft of the face is devoid of snow. Snowpack at the top is thin sastrugi. Dug a pit lower down the face at 11,600 where there was a large wind blown pillow with an inclination of 38 degrees. Pit was deep the top 8 inches sat on a weak layer that was not well bonded either above or below. During a shovel compression test the layer collapsed with three taps from the wrist and then slid out at 8 taps. Shear was clean. Next layer needed to be levered out but is big. There is a lot of moisture in the pack. We skied the face at 10 the top had not started corning but at 11,800 ft there was a 1" soft layer. By 11.30 lower down the slope we were leaving 10" trenches.
Avalanche
Debris at the bottom of the SE face of Mt Helen