Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Mar 4, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
No wind at ridgetop. Overcast with thinner clouds in the morning and filtered sun.
Snowpack
About 5 inches of low-density new snow. The new snow would easily sluff especially in steep northerly terrain. Dug on an east aspect at 11k feet. Snow height was 190 cm. There is a layer of small facets 60 cm from the surface. I got propagation in an ECT only after the standard 30 taps and after removing some of the slab. This layer is fairly widespread but it seems unreactive with no avalanches reported on it. Something to watch if we get a decent storm. Also I would suspect the low-density surface snow to cause a future storm slab issue, if this area gets a foot of snow over the next few days.---I also dug on a southeast-facing below-treeline slope. The new snow did not get moist today so we have a few inches of low-density snow sitting on a crust Beneath this crust is consolidating snowpack that has seen melt water in the top 60 cm or so.
Avalanche
I triggered one tiny storm slab that entrained new snow as it run. Not big enough to bury a person, but maybe could have knocked someone off of their feet. I triggered a few other very small loose dry avalanches on ski cuts.