Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Jason Konigsberg · May 22, 2019 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Mostly cloudy but with plenty of breaks of sun and fairly mild temps. High temp today was around 40 degrees at 11k feet. Recent storm snow amounts to 15 inches.

Snowpack

Below treeline a few inches of recent snow sits on top of a thin crust that likely formed yesterday afternoon. Lots of collapsing below treeline but little to worry about as the slab is very thin. The surface snow below treeline became wet in afternoon.---Near treeline I dug on a few different aspects and found a hardness change in the new snow about 8 inches down. On a west-facing slope I got propagation in an extended column test on 22 taps. At ridgetop the snow is much more wind affected and the slab is thicker and stiffer. I did not observe any obvious signs of instability near ridgetop but I was cautious and avoided steep, unsupported terrain with thick drifts.

Avalanche

I observed one small recent wind slab on an east-facing slope. Overall very little natural avalanche activity from the storm.