Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Backcountry Babes Level 1 AIARE course · Jan 4, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Temps in the 40's F with broken sky cover and light winds out of the west. Forecasted gusts up to 50 mph but did not occur while we were there (left TH at 3:45pm). No precipitation and minimal blowing snow.

Snowpack

HS varied from 50 to 100 cm with similar structures throughout NE, E & ESE aspects where students dug pits. This general structure included Fist hardness upper layer, 1Finger to Pencil hard mid layers with Fist hardness basel facets near the ground. NE aspect group dug 2 pits with HS 93 cm and 50-80 cm. Elevation 11,670' with 18 slope. Compression tests in the shallower pit resulted in CT20 SC down 40 cm in Depth Hoar 3mm-5mm, CT21 SC down 25cm in DH and ECTN23 down 25 cm in DH. E aspect group dug 3 pits with HS ranging from 80-100cm on 20 slope at 11,539' elevation. Compression tests results included CT29 down 80 cm, CTN x 6 and ECTX. ESE aspect group dug one pit with HS 95 cm. Elevation 11,500' on a 14 slope. Compression test results included CTN and ECTX.

Avalanche

None observed