Vail & Summit County
SnowpackDrew Gibson · Dec 25, 2022 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Unsettled. Passing clouds obscured the sun at times. Moderate wind from the NW was moving snow. 33F at the trailhead at 1030, not cold up high. Clouds increased into the afternoon. Wind was gusty at times but did not seem to increase.
Snowpack
Traveled up summer trail to near treeline. SE facing slopes were variable depending on exposure to wind and slope angle. Generally found less than 1m of snow near treeline on SE. A quick test pit showed wind deposited 4 finger snow on top of soft facets. ECT scores were easy(ECTP8). Cracking was localized to skis and no collapsing was noted. No warming was noted on the southerly aspects near treeline. Travelling above treeline, all slopes showed signs of heavy wind effect. Sastrugi and wind etching were widespread but uneven. Pockets of wind slab were present and again distributed unevenly. Wind slab hardness was anywhere from 4 finger to knife hard. I only skirted the edge of the lower east bowl as I was not willing to venture into the meat of the terrain. The center of the bowl was wind loaded and plainer. The snow depth is still thin, obvious thin spots could be spotted towards the bottom of the bowl. These thin spots are potential trigger points causing failures under the deeper slab higher up in the bowl. Travelling down to near treeline, I observed widespread, rumbling collapsing on slopes that had the stiffer slab over weak facets. A quick test pit in this area showed a reactive ~20cm slab over larger facets, the bottom ~15cm was chained depth hoar. All tests failed on isolation. Wind sheltered slopes on the northeast side were very shallow and generally cohesionless.