Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Kenny Powell · Dec 30, 2012 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Winds were very light from the West throughout most of the day. We reached the summit around 2pm and we noticed clouds moving in from the West. We stayed on top long enough to snap a few picks and eat and during this time we noticed the front was slowly obscuring the ranges to the West. Winds on the summit were approximately 15-20mph.

Snowpack

We departed Hoosier pass en route to Crystal Lake and found no other track after the lake. At Crystal Lake we noticed significant wind-affected snow on nearly all aspects (this area is relatively flat/rolling). The wind crust strength varied from supporting full body weight with/without skis to fracturing immediately around a skier. We stayed on very low-angle terrain so this was not a problem. As we neared the summit slopes the wind was heavily drifted in places and we continued to encounter heavily wind-affected snow on the Northeast/Eastern aspects. Our route followed the steep East ridge which was relatively devoid of any significant snow. At Crystal Lake and around 12,000ft the snow profile supported the forecast observations- windslab overlying unconsolidated grains with a 2-5cm crust in the middle overlying a heavily faceted base-layer. This would undoubtedly be very problematic on steeper/open slopes.