Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Mar 18, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Mostly clear and sunny with calm winds at ridgeline. Steep southerly slopes were warming, but were not getting overly wet and unstable.
Snowpack
Most slopes were slower to warm and get wet than we thought this morning, and the shed cycle was a little delayed. I did see a few small wet looking "sluffs" in my travels, but nothing significant. Digging around near to above treeline, I found a small crust below the most recent snow with facets above and below. This layer failed, but did not propagate in stability tests. Lower down there are still well preserved facets and depth hoar near the bottom the the snowpack that are slowly gaining strength, but still on the weak side. Looking around the mountains, there are many new drifts of snow on steep slopes that look very suspect. I would be very reluctant to test any of these slopes right now.
Avalanche
There was a very fresh looking avalanche with tracks around it in the main path above town (NE facing). It's hard to tell how deep it failed, but guessing 1 to 2 feet. I also saw a few small loose wet avalanches on steep southerly terrain, and an older avalanche on a wind-loaded east-facing slope.