Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAmanda Loughlin, Jason Konigsberg · Dec 4, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Temperatures were in the low 20s. Broken skies becoming overcast. Very windy with intense snow transport at times.
Snowpack
The snowpack is still thin. We noticed cracking, whumpfs, and wind affected snow on all aspects. West aspects were stripped above treeline but holding a surprising amount of snow near treeline. We noticed similar snow structure on east and southeast aspects. We discovered a 3cm melt-freeze crust on east-southeast-facing slopes sitting on top of fist hard basal facets. On an east aspect near treeline, we observed a wind-drifted slab about 50 cm thick over faceted snow. We performed several stability tests. The first Extended Column Test (ECT) on an east-southeast aspect produced a result of ECTP2, the second ECT on an east aspect produced a result of ECTP1, and the third ECT on a southeast aspect produced ECTP16. HS varied between 58-87cm. We did get other propagating results underneath the most recent drifted snow, indicative of a reactive wind slab avalanche problem, but the problem to be managed is for deeper and remotely triggered avalanches breaking on the basal facets.
Avalanche
Observed R1 D1 avalanche on NE aspect NTL. Appeared to be natural. Several small avalanches directly above the loop road.