Vail & Summit County
AvalancheRyan Zarter · Mar 23, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Broken skies, calm winds, and temps in the low 20s. Hn24 2"/0.2" at the Vail Pass study plot. Hnst 11"/0.95"
Snowpack
I dug on a west aspect below treeline. The snow height in this area ranged from 160-180cm. The recent storm snow sits on top of a mostly faceted snowpack with a handful of melt-freeze crusts in the upper half of the snopwack. Non-propagating ECT results below a couple of the upper melt-freeze crusts. The lower half of the snowpack is starting to round. Cursory observations in the upper part of the Spider Slide (a bit more southwest to south-southwest) showed storm snow on top of some more stout melt-freeze crusts and a snowpack that has consolidated down quite a bit in the periods of warmer temperatures and sun that we've had between storms. Storm snow was well bonded to the old surface.
Avalanche
Several small loose avalanches out of the cliffs in the narrows, though none greater in size than D0.5. All were stopped by the berm.