Vail & Summit County
Avalanchedan mcgrew · Mar 12, 2020 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Temps were warm at the trailhead @0830 with moderate sustained winds and extreme wind gusts estimated 50+ MPH. Temperatures increased gradually throughout the morning but sustained until the sky cover thinned to broken @1200. After this point, the temperatures increased drastically, the wind slowed to more sustained moderate winds, and the solar gain on South facing slopes increased rapidly.
Snowpack
Recent snow total in 24 hours was Tr-3". Snowpack observation at 12,000' was 2" of new snow on firm bed surface with 4"-6" wind deposited snow on lee aspects. Snow did not bond well to bed surface. Shooting cracks witnessed while touring on leeward micro terrain features over 30* slopes.
Avalanche
The original objective of Atlantic Peak was shut down once near treeline as the extreme wind gusts had not diminished throughout our tour. We altered our plan to an East facing 25* wind loaded gully. The upper pitch of the line was firm wind pressed snow and once over the roll was pleasant spring powder conditions. We then opted for another line that was South facing and guessed to be slightly steeper than the first line. While skinning up the line, The snow began to show signs of warming quickly and we began to witness shooting cracks. There was a talk of whether or not the line was steep enough to slide and once the slope was measured, it was realized that the slope was 35* and had a steeper roll at the upper pitch. It was decided That we would not continue up and we would ski down a short pitch that had a clean runout. we did not skin up this line and it was through a narrow chute. The 1st snowboarder dropped in and once below the tightest part of the line, noticed the snow around him cracking. Boarder 1 continued to ski to a more mellow slope to his right and was not caught in the slide.