Vail & Summit County
AvalancheDylan Craaybeek Jeremy Primmer · Jan 31, 2022 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Cool, cloudy morning with Broken sky and a Light breeze at the trailhead around 10:00 AM. Clouds cleared around noon and sky remained Few to Scattered for the rest of the day. Warm temperatures low to mid 20s around 11,000 feet. Steady Moderate winds at ridgeline with Strong gusts and Moderate snow transport throughout the day. Extreme wind gusts above 12,000 feet from the west.
Snowpack
Weak snow surfaces all around. Northerly aspects below treeline are almost facets to the ground. A soft (4F to 1F- on the hand hardness scale) slab can still be found under about 30 cm of weak near-surface facets and on top of basal facets. Northwest slopes below the treeline were reactive to snowpack tests (3x ECTPM). The height of snow (HS) averaged around 1 meter deep below the treeline on westerly slopes and grew to about 1.5 meters deep near the treeline. Southerly and east-facing slopes have a thick and supportable melt-freeze crusts on slopes around 20 to 35 degrees in steepness and thin breakable crusts on lower angle slopes. Moderate wind transport throughout the day led to continued cornice growth and wind-loading onto a weak snow surface on lees side of ridgelines.
Avalanche
Pitkin avalanche investigation details found in separate avalanche observation. Link to Pitkin avalanche here: https://avalanche.state.co.us/caic/obs/obs_report.php?obs_id=69379 Observed a loose avalanche occur on a northwest slope.