Vail & Summit County
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Apr 20, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Four inches of new snow drifting into foot-thick drifts just below the ridgetop. Drifted snow was also building cornice. Winds were strong and sustained from a westerly direction at ridgetop.
Snowpack
Below treeline the snowpack is moist to the ground. Although the snowpack is moist throughout, it is supportable and draining meltwater effectively. I dug on a northwest-facing near treeline slope and found a snowpack depth of 240 cm. The top 10 cm of new snow rests on a thin, hard-to-detect melt-freeze crust. Below this is another 35 cm of dry snow on a thick, hard melt-freeze crust. I only dug about one meter deep but there isn't deeper distinct interfaces of concern for future Wet Slab avalanches. The most concerning interface is where about 45 cm of dry snow in the upper snowpack rests on the older melt-freeze crust. With warming this week, this could be a wet loose avalanche issue.