Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Feb 14, 2019 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
5 to 6 inches of 15% density snow the night before. Winds were out of the west at 20-25 mph. Around 4 am the winds picked up and we had steady gusts into the 50's for about 3 hours
Avalanche
In East Vail yesterday a skier triggered a small but dangerous slide in the chute "Tweener's" at 10:15 AM. Tweener's is a NE facing narrow steep gully around 11,800' and 45 degree start zone. A group of three skiers arrived at the top of Tweener's and sent the first skier through without incident. When the second skier dropped in, on his second turn the slope released above him and swept him towards the skiers left of the chute. The skier was able to self arrest on a tree about 50 feet below the start zone. The rest of the slide moved another 100 feet or so down the chute. The skier was not buried, uninjured and had his gear. The crown was reported to be 10-15 deep. The wind slab ran on the new/old snow interface and was an R1-D1 in size.