Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Mike Floyd · Dec 22, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Warm and windy with broken skies ahead of incoming storm. A moment of graupel.

Snowpack

20-60 cm below treeline snowpack of four finger slab over fist hard facets. There is an old and thin slab in the lower third of the snowpack, giving the snowpack a false feeling of supportive structure. Collapses were common. Sun-exposed areas have a thin melt-freeze crust formed during the last couple days of warm weather. Now that coverage is fairly continuous below treeline, the new snow will test previously buried weak layers.

Avalanche

Two shallow hard slabs ran into the terrain trap where a skin track was set. See photo.