Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · Nov 4, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Broken skies became overcast with light winds and temperatures in the high 20s.
Snowpack
I found a snowpack that varied from one to two feet in depth. The storm snow from last night was one to one-and-a-half feet deep. The basal layer varied depending on the aspect. On west and east aspects, about 10cm of October snow melted into a crust and is now faceting below the storm snow. There were non-propagating Extended Column Test (ECT) results at the interface between the two layers. On a north-facing slope, there was a faceting crust near the ground with a 10cm thick layer of facets above it. Above the faceted layer is the new storm snow. Again, there were non-propagating ECT results at the interface between the facets and the storm snow. The lack of propagating results is likely due to a lack of slab quality in the new snow. It was fist hard on the Hand Hardness Scale, and I noticed no density changes in the new snow. On the west and east-facing slopes I traveled on, the basal layer was not continuously distributed across the terrain. On the northerly-facing slopes I dug on, it was everywhere. Increasing winds on Tuesday will likely stiffen this snow into a slab and we could start to see some avalanche activity and a rise in danger. Especially on steep, upper-elevation, northerly-facing slopes.