Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams Austin DiVesta · Apr 2, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Few clouds and moderate winds from the north at the ridgetop. Single-digit lows overnight warmed to close to freezing by the afternoon.
Snowpack
Overall, we observed a snowpack that is in a transition period. Slopes on the southern half of the compass and at lower elevations are becoming spring-like with thick, supportable melt-freeze crusts and evidence of water moving through the snowpack below the March 3 dust layer. On the northern half of the compass and at higher elevations, the snowpack is still winter-like. There are faceted weak layers in the upper snowpack and it is composed of dry, cold snow. We observed many recent avalanches in the most recent snow. Some were Loose Dry sluffs in very steep terrain and others were shallow Wind Slabs just below ridgelines. All of the slides we saw were on northerly and easterly-facing slopes. We were not in the field late enough to observe new wet avalanches. We did not observe any slides that broke deeply in the snowpack. That said, we did observe faceted layers within the snowpack below the snow that fell beginning on March 24. The most worrisome layer was only 30-40cm deep and was composed of angular, faceted grains. There were other faceted layers within the upper snowpack where we dug, but they were rounding and were unreactive in our snowpit tests. While we did not observe any recent avalanches breaking on this layer, it could be possible on the right slope. This layer may also come into play as the snowpack continues to warm in the coming days. Wet snow may sheet off this layer when free water reaches it.