Vail & Summit County
SnowpackBecs Hodgetts · Nov 21, 2013 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
1" new snow overnight with light winds. Overcast and snowing S1, with light S winds during tour. Skies cleared around 1pm, closing in again around an hour later. Touring between 11000 and 12170 feet.
Snowpack
Snowcover on north aspects above treeline varied from 170cms below ridgeline and in gullies to 40cm in mid paths and runouts. Below ridges where wind deposits were greatest showed a uniform snowpack, with wind broken precipitation particles making up the bulk of the snowpack. Small facets were noted in the lower 30cm of the pit with an ice layer at the ground. Where groundcover was uneven, depth hoar to 3mm was noted under the ice layer, but was not uniform. East aspects (kitchen wall) snowcover depth 100cms. Upper 20cms lightly drifted new snow (F)1mm, four distinct layers of faceted grains below. At 50cms from ground was a stiffer(1F) layer of 1mm facets, that was unreactive to tests.Depth hoar F (1-3mm)made up the last 10cm to ground.