Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg, Nick Barlow · Dec 20, 2016 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Overcast skies for most of the day becoming scattered by late afternoon. The wind was calm except for some light winds in exposed locations. Wind loading was light on near treeline ridgelines.
Snowpack
Snowpack observations from only east and southeast aspects near treeline ...Isolated hard wind slabs were found near ridgetop. About 100ft down from the ridgeline the snow was not wind affected. These hard wind slabs would be hard to trigger. Wind loading was insignificant today and not building any newer wind slabs....The overall snowpack in this area proved to be strong. The ever-present weak faceted snow sits near the ground but its hand hardness (4F) is greater than other areas of the zone. The faceted snow also was damp and somewhat cohesive and could be pressed into a snowball. In several extended-column test we did not get propagation on this layer or any others. The depth of snow was generally in the 120cm to 140cm range... The slab that sits on top of the faceted basal layer is hard, thick, and strong. Initiating a crack in the weak layer would likely require a large load or finding a thin spot in the slab.
Avalanche
One previously reported avalanche was observed low down in Shrine Bowl. No other avalanche activity was observed.