Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Jan 19, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Clear day with clouds visible to the south. About 4 inches of snow from last few days. Drifted up to a foot in places.

Snowpack

The snowpack is much different than two weeks ago. The slab/weak layer combo that caused significant avalanche activity has changed with the slab significantly weakening and the weak layer gaining strength. The biggest change though is the knife hard, wind-packed snow that sits beneath the last few days of snow. This hard layer is widespread as far as I can tell. It took some work to find an entirely soft snowpack such as previous to the wind event. The hard layer caps near-surface facets that formed prior to the wind event. This faceted layer is very weak but it is extremely hard to affect. In the one snowpit where the hard layer was absent, I got ECTP11 results about a foot down on this layer. From my obs today, it seems like this will be the most reactive layer with a new load. Below treeline was mostly protected from past wind. This elevation band will likely be the most reactive with new loading.