Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

John Mackinnon · Mar 14, 2017 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Scattered clouds trending to few in PM, light to moderate northwest winds and an observed high temperature of +5c at 11,000 feet at 2 pm.

Snowpack

We skied "proto" corn on southwest and west aspects from 12,000 ft to 10,750 ft in the early afternoon. Winds kept near and above TL slopes cool despite above freezing temperatures and strong solar radiation. Lower elevation west and southwest slopes had wet snow on the surface by 2 pm. A quick test pit on an east aspect below TL at 2:30 pm showed that water had trickled down 7-8 cm in the upper snowpack.

Avalanche

We did observe some small LW avalanches on the drive back to Leadville near Cecilville Slabs area. 3 small natural loose wet avalanches that slid on steep SW slopes below TL.