Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Chris Berdoulay · Jan 28, 2018 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Partly cloudy skies and 4 degrees with calm winds. As the day went on, the temp climbed into the upper teens and the wind steadily increased.

Snowpack

Approx. one meter deep where we were skiing. Bottom 20 cm or so were faceted with upper layers alternating wind slab and new snow.

Avalanche

Sympathetic release 300 ft to skiers left during last skier. Approx. 40 degree convexity releasing to ground. Crown might have been around a meter deep, give or take and stretched approx. 200 ft. Slide ran for around 400-500 ft. Slide relative to path was small but could have easily buried and killed a person. R1 D2.