Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Mike Cooperstein · Jan 26, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Nice day. Clouds rolling in toward the afternoon. Moderate westerly winds. Still some snow moving at the ridge tops.

Snowpack

There is plenty of wind-loading along the ridges. We stayed clear of steep previously wind-loaded slopes. Thin areas around rocks and bushes or areas where the snow has been stripped by the wind are completely faceted. Deeper east and southeast-facing areas in the gullies are approaching 200 centimeters. The top 35 centimeters is composed of wind broken stellar crystals. There is a 20 centimeter 1 finger hard mid-pack slab. Under the slab is a thin layer of near-surface faceted crystals with a hard bed surface under these facets. The mid-pack slab is hard to break.