Vail & Summit County
AvalancheNathaniel Pearson ยท Apr 10, 2021
Weather
Bright sun. 22 degrees, rising slowly as the morning went on. Blustery winds, at times very strong.
Snowpack
Fully supportable wind and sun crusts on E/SE aspects from 11.5 to 13.5k feet. Sun crust was a full cm of clear ice in places. In many places E/SE, the wind slab (1-5 inches of fresh snow) was overlaying the sun crust. Wind and cold temps kept the surface snow locked up long into the morning and early afternoon, although warming occurred a bit more rapidly near exposed rocks.
Avalanche
No avalanches observed. In isolated places where wind had deposited more than 3 inches of new snow on SE aspects we witnessed shooting cracks reacting on the slick crust below. Some cracks shot as far as 20-25 feet.