Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Old early-October snow exists on most northerly slopes above 11k ft. Distribution of the old snow, that is now faceted, is pockety below treeline and not continuous across a slope until you reach the NTL elevation band or about 12k ft. As you move up in elevation to above treeline, old-snow coverage spreads to easterly and westerly aspects as well. Coverage on ATL east and west slopes mostly consists of snow-filled gullies and not slope-wide coverage.--- Snow depths on near-treeline northeast-facing slopes, range from 30 to 60 cms. The snowpack structure on these slopes consist of faceted snow near the surface above a stout melt-freeze crust with very weak 1-2mm facets below this crust to the ground. The stout crust supported my weight while hiking around in some areas and in other areas I punched through to the faceted snow beneath. I wasn't able to fully investigate due northerly slopes but my intital impression is that there is a much thinner crust and the snowpack on due north slopes is faceted top to bottom.