Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Andrew Councell · May 21, 2015 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Scattered clouds, mostly sunny, light-to-moderate SW winds at 14K. We triggered the avalanche from the summit ridge.

Snowpack

Recent, strong S-SW winds locally on Quandary have pressed/scoured windward features and loaded/pressed lee features with WSL up to 50cm deep. Many north-facing features avalanched naturally, either dry-loose or WSL with evidence of wet-loose on steep S-SE-E aspects, all in the alpine.

Avalanche

Intentional skier-triggered cornice fall triggered an R4/D2.5 slab in the "N. Gully" route, approx. 20-50cm deep, 150m wide and 600m long (12-15" x 500' x 2000'), running full path with debris up to 2m deep. The initial slab/debris gouged deep into the snowpack near the bottom of the path.