Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Feb 27, 2020 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
The tour started out sunny, but ended cloudy. Light ridgetop winds blew from the west, making upper elevations or wind-exposed areas quite chilly.
Snowpack
We dug multiple pits at the upper end of below treeline/lower end of near treeline from 11200' to 11500'. Generally, the snowpack is deep and strong in this area. Average snow height was around 200cm. At 11200' we dug on a northwest and north-facing slope. In both pits, the total depth was over 200cm and there were very few layers of concern. For the most part, the layers were strong and fairly uniform. There were no failures or propagation in stability tests. A little higher at 11500' on a north facing open slope, I intentionally dug in a more shallow area. There was a very stout slab sitting over weak, fist hard 2mm facets. Even though the structure was poor, there was no propagation in ECTs. The total depth at this site was 150cm.
Avalanche
None observed