Vail & Summit County
AvalancheAndrew McWilliams · Apr 4, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Skies varied between broken and overcast with short periods of S-1 snowfall. Winds veered to the west from the southwest and were moderate above treeline. Temperatures were in the low teens.
Snowpack
Snow overnight came with dust and there was a 2cm thick crust of red dust below the 2cm of new snow. Moderate southwest and west winds were loading snow onto easterly aspects. On steep test slopes the new snow and crust cracked below my skis and small ski-width slabs were easily pushed. On larger slopes, the new snow ran on top of the crust and some small Dry Loose avalanches were observed on steep northerly and easterly-facing slopes above treeline. A snowpit on a north aspect near treeline revealed a snowpack over six feet deep that showed signs of strengthening. There were no results in tests failing on persistent weak layers. The dust layer had easy non-propagating results in Extended Column Tests (ECTs) failing at the bottom of the crust. This layer could become a concern moving forward. On a south aspect near treeline, the dust layer was not present, but the snowpack was generally shallow and weak with multiple crusts in the upper snowpack. While ECTs had only non-propagating results associated with the crust layers, recent large avalanches on this aspect suggest these crusts may continue to be reactive, especially with any additional loading. Warm weather the past few days created crusts at the surface even on northerly aspects at the upper end of the below treeline elevation band. Near and above treeline snow on northerlies was still cold, but had a stiff wind crust in exposed areas due to recent high winds. In both snowpits, the snowpack was dry throughout.
Avalanche
There were two large avalanches likely from the 4/1/2023 cycle on southerly aspects and two small avalanches on easterly aspects that likely ran yesterday or today.