Vail & Summit County
SnowpackJason Konigsberg · Dec 21, 2016 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Moderate westerly winds at ridgetop became calmer after 1 PM. There was no wind loading in my location or on any visible ridgetop. Skies were scattered to broken in the morning with increasing clouds towards afternoon.
Snowpack
The overall snowpack near treeline is not much different than what I found Tuesday in East Vail. A thick, strong slab sits on top of faceted snow near the ground. The faceted layer was softer, drier and less cohesive than in East Vail but still produced no propagating results in tests. After a no result in an ECT, I removed about half of the slab and continued to pound on the column. Results were still stubborn but after some hard hits the basal layer would finally collapse and propagate...I also took a look at a southerly slope and found a very similar structure to the northerly aspects. There were no melt-freeze crusts present. The overall depth was about 50cms less but the structure was the same with a strong slab on top of weaker faceted snow near the ground.