Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Apr 14, 2020 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Wind loading was intense in some places right at ridgetop but it was not intense everywhere. There was more snow moving yesterday. Temperatures felt warm, even as skies were obscured at times, with low clouds moving across the mountains but lots of sun and clear skies aloft.
Snowpack
Few signs of instability and in general the snow is well bonded to knife-hard underlying crusts. In most places it would be very unlikely for an avalanche in new snow to step down as crusts about 1 foot down are thick and hard. The main issue to deal with is newly formed wind slabs directly below ridgetop. I observed some cracking about 6 inches down in these specific areas but the sensitivity was stubborn and cracks did not want to propagate. It seems steep slopes are needed to trigger avalanches. A rough estimate would be 38 degrees or greater. Below treeline the snow was moist on our exit at 2 PM. We weren't around any steep slopes at low elevations but I bet with a good push, you could start some snow moving on sun-baked slopes.
Avalanche
No avalanche activity observed with good visibility along SH-91. One small Wind Slab avalanche off of an above-treeline northeast=facing slope near Chicago Ridge.