Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Jason Konigsberg · Mar 7, 2017 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Winds were strong at 12k ft ridgelines but little snow left to transport. Blustery in the wind and warm below treeline where it was calmer.

Snowpack

Hard slabs of wind-drifted snow exist on easterly aspects from ridegetop to below treeline. The slabs are stubborn and hard and would be somewhat difficult to trigger. If you were to trigger one of these slabs it would most likely break above you. Local ski areas reported good results with control work with avalanches breaking 1 to 3 feet deep near ridgetops...I dug a couple snowpits on easterly aspects to assess our newer Persistent Slab avalanche problem. The faceted layer was present at ~40cms from the surface and was much softer than the slab above and below. Extended column tests did not produce any propagating results. Recent avalanche activity trumps negative results so caution should still be used in regard to Persistent Slab avalanches.

Avalanche

With good visibility the only natural avalanche that I saw today was a small Wind Slab avalanche on Ptarmigan Hill.