Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Mar 2, 2019 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
There was a break in storms mid-day and the sun was trying to poke through the clouds. Valley temps through below treeline terrain was hovering in the mid to upper 30s. Strong west winds near and above treeline were rapidly transporting snow and making conditions much cooler and unpleasant.
Snowpack
Below treeline there was 8-12" of new dense storm snow. With warmer temps, the snow was rapidly settling and felt like warm, spongy spring pow. The winds were drifting the snow in open areas into deep drifts behind tree islands and larger terrain features. The transition out of the trees was a different story. Strong west winds had stripped the new snow completely off west facing slopes near and above treeline and was rapidly loading easterly slopes. Just below ridgeline on east-facing slopes, the wind-transported snow was forming into soft but dense slabs. Cornices were growing and in a few spots had failed in small chunks. With the warmer temps, the new snow seemed to be bonding well with the old snow surfaces. I wasn't able to observe this physically, as I didn't want to travel below the large cornices on the east side of the ridge, but new slab formations have to be many feet thick. In the flat spot where I dug above the cornice, new wind slabs were close to 3' thick.
Avalanche
Only a couple small cornice chunks, otherwise none observed.