Vail & Summit County
AvalancheDavid Dellamora · Apr 16, 2014 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Scattered clouds, increasing in the afternoon with calm westerly winds.
Snowpack
East facing terrain harbored un-reactive surface slab from Tuesday's wind event. Below the April 13 storm slab, we found a combination of faceted melt crusts and ice forms. The lattice network is resting above weakening March dust layers. Compression results were difficult to initiate and fractures were dull in character. Westerly aspects were scoured and thin. The 1 meter deep snowpack was weak and faceted, yet exhibited no signs of instability. Surface conditions were supportable but 5mm striated basal facets could be seen with the naked eye. South facing terrain was likewise consolidated, scratchy underfoot and large cornices had recently shed up to D2. As the day warmed, evidence of the dust layers became obvious as surface grains moistened.
Avalanche
In the afternoon, we descended west from Ptarmigan to check out a recently triggered HS/ASu/R1/D1 in Avalanche Bowl, where a fatality occurred April 18, 2013. The crown of the wind slab was 10-20cm thick, ran for about 100 meters and was less than 50 meters wide.