Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Nov 17, 2018 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Clear in the am with increasing clouds around noon. Light winds from the NW with no precipitation.
Snowpack
Variable conditions depending on aspect and elevation. Sheltered areas were weak and faceted in the upper parts of the snowpack with a supportable base layer below. On exposed sunny aspects, recent warming has cooked the snow surface and formed a myriad of crusts 2-3cm thick. Higher elevation slopes are very wind-effected. Supportable snow surfaces dominate the landscape, some heavily wind-etched and some blown clean. Pit details are attached below. I dug above the previous avalanche on Peak 1. The old snow near the ground is still weak but the slab above is gaining strength and becoming less reactive in stability tests. This means that it will be harder to trigger an avalanche but it will still fail near the ground.
Avalanche
None observed