Vail & Summit County
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Feb 26, 2025 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Mostly clear at times and cloudy at times with convective showers too.
Snowpack
The average snowpack depth on east and southeast-facing slopes is about 130 cm. I was able to get hard propagating results on both aspects in Extended Column Tests. These propagating results were about 30 to 40 cm from the ground on basal facets. The midpack crust-facet combo was less concerning. I tried a Propagation Saw Test but couldn't effectively run the saw through the facets due to ice bodies within the faceted layer. On these aspects, there is no distinguishable December 9th layer. I found a snow depth of 155 cm on a north-facing near treeline slope. In this snowpack it was easy to make out the layer of facets buried in early December. This layer, 60 cm from the ground, produced a propagating crack after 21 hits in an Extended Column Test. The slab from mid-February storms was 60 cm thick and mostly one-finger hard. Overall, the snow depth in this area is not as deep as the Tenmile Range or areas west of Vail Pass. With the thick slab, it will be hard to trigger an avalanche, but any triggered avalanche would be large. Light loads of new snow wouldn't do much to change the situation unless accompanied by effective winds for wind loading. A large storm or a short but intense period of heavy snow would produce destructive avalanches. The snowpack structure on east and southeast near treeline slopes would be conducive to wet slab avalanches if we were going into a bigger warm-up than forecast. In a warmer weather regime, with warmer overnight low temperatures, meltwater could flood the mid-February slab and pool up on the buried crust 60 cm from the surface. It doesn't look like we will get enough meltwater production during this warm-up, especially with below-freezing nights. There is also already a two-inch thick melt-freeze crust on the surface that would take some energy to break down before the sun gets to work melting more of the upper snowpack. With that said, very steep, isolated rocky terrain with cliffs or meltwater producers overtop that are also sheltered from the wind are always suspect and could produce wet avalanches over the next few days.