Vail & Summit County
SnowpackIan Fowler · Mar 7, 2022 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
The weather started out sunny and warm. About 12pm the air temp dropped quickly and it began to snow lightly. Winds were calm even at 12,000ft and no snow was being transported.
Snowpack
Below treeline the snow is weak with about 50 to 70cm of depth. Half was new snow and the other half was storm snow. There was no crust on north aspect but you only had to get to WNW and crusts were present. No real slab below treeline. Near Tree Line we dug on a north aspect and west aspect. North aspect had a 150cm height of snow and 2 distinct firmer crusts. The higher crust was weak and not supportive of weight but the lower one was a bit thicker and supportive. The basal facets were gaining strength and were mostly 1 finger in hardness. There was no results in compression tests. West facing snowpack close to treeline was shallow about 75cm and we got multiple large collapses in untracked terrain. Height of snow was about 75cm and with storm snow over a couple of crusts over facets. This was some of the weakest snow I have seen for a while and had moderate results and propogation in extended column tests.