Vail & Summit County
AvalancheBrad Kovalchick · Nov 22, 2017 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Near white out snow, strong winds out of the west. 12,000ft
Snowpack
Trees around 11,000 ft are holding good snow. 50 cm deep in spots. Up to 100 cm in wind loaded areas. Above tree line there is still many bare spots but I measured snow up to 150cm deep. On a north to northeast aspect at 12,000 ft with an incline of 23 degrees and average snow depth of 110cm I dug a test pit and this is what i found. The top 60 to 110cm of the snow pack is a combination of wind slabs. Most are 1 finger on the hardness scale some near the 60 to 70cm depth are pencil hardness. These slabs are sitting on a layer roughly 20cm thick of very faceted crystals. This layer of facets rest on a knife hardness melt freeze crust aprox 10 to 15cm thick. Below this is 20cm of very faceted snow. Very easy to just scoop out with your hand.
Avalanche
None. Still lots of cracking and collapsing in the snow pack. Audible noise from shooting cracks.