Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Ty Phelps · Apr 15, 2011 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

At the summit of the pass- once open (12:30pm -ish) the winds pounded from the W-NW all day 15-20 sustained... gusts to 35. Blue sky, 18-25 F

Snowpack

Snow was dense as a result of the wind transport, but NW aspects were particularly wind scoured. However, even cross-loaded gullies exhibited zero signs of instability. Hasty pit showed us that there was a well-settled/wind transported 20-30cm of fresh that appeared to have bonded well with the thick (5-10cm) knife hardness ice crust that formed just as this storm cycle was rolling in and the cold temps trapped the water that was percolating within. Beneath that was finger hardness to the ground (snowpack measured 315cm). STH Q3 @ 23cm, CTH24 @ 21cm. @ the Summit, we noticed 3 natural slides under the Idiot's Ridge cornice- all appeared to be the result of fresh hangfire from the cornice. They propogated relatively wide, but did not run full path & did not step down into deeper layers. The looming cornice fall danger throughout that area & Kitchen Wall is quite concerning in my opinion.