Vail & Summit County
SnowpackJeremiah Primmer · Mar 19, 2022 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Clear skies in the morning with overcast clouds in the afternoon.
Snowpack
On the way up to the Birthday Chute I saw three small loose wet avalanches from 3/18 below rock bands on a southwest-facing slope below treeline. The snow surface moistened up but cloud cover in the afternoon prevented loose wet being a large concern today. At the crown of the avalanche the height of the snow was 200-250cm with some shallow spots near some rocks. The slide propagated 400’ across the northwest-facing slope and the crown was 2’ deep on average and 3’ at the max. The culprit was buried near surface facets from the mid-winter dry spell. At this location the facets have been slow to heal and were 1mm in size and four finger to fist hard and 5-15cm thick. Below a rock in a shallow spot I found an incredible weak snowpack with a height of 120cm. The buried facets were 2mm with striations and the holiday slab had lost most of it’s structure, and there was 4-6mm chained depth hoar at the bottom. It’s worth noting that the reporting party skied one lap solo on the slope that slide with no signs of instability before rejoining his group and triggering it on his way back up for a second lap, supporting the idea that slopes will not produce warning signs before sliding.