Vail & Summit County
SnowpackDrew Gibson · Feb 12, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Mostly clear skies with increasing cloud cover throughout the day. Warm temperature and intense sun on solar aspects. Winds were calm at times but otherwise light from the west. Some swirling snow was observed above treeline from a distance.
Snowpack
Traveling on N and E aspects near 11,200ft the snowpack was on average 1m deep and ski penetration was close to full depth. On more northerly aspects the mid-pack was supportive of skis. Moving closer to treeline the average depth on the northerlies was about 130cm and 90cm on the SE. I dug on a SE aspect near treeline. Temperatures were hot and surface snow was moist and clumping together. The sun effect was penetrating the top 10cm-15cm and after a freeze will form a new melt-freeze crust. Overall the snowpack was faceted with easy and moderate shear layers under an old melt-freeze crust in the upper snowpack and easy to moderate compression scores on the Chained Depth Hoar resting on the ground. Extended Column Tests had no results. On more northerly aspects the snowpack was deeper near treeline and had more variety due to previous wind loading. Here the snowpack appeared stronger with multiple Four Finger and One Finger layers, but compression test scores were similar with moderate failures on the ground on large facets. Again, Extended Column Tests yielded no results. Traveling conditions have improved on the northerly aspects, but it is still possible to sink to the ground even on skis on wind-sheltered terrain below treeline. I mostly traversed down the north side to McCullough Gulch road as the ground hazard was enough it wasn’t worth skiing. Looking around this area the wind has definitely taken its toll on the upper elevations. It was difficult to see continuous snow on the upper-east east face of Quandary, though some surrounding sub-peaks had better coverage. I drove up to the top of Hoosier Pass and the other side of the Continental Divide is similar with many bare slopes above and near treeline and only pockets of loaded snow in specific terrain features. Moving just a bit north towards the Ten Mile Range, there is a lot more snow up high.