Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Mike Floyd · Dec 30, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Cold, calm, with clear skies.

Snowpack

50-80 cm where I traveled on south and west aspects. The recent storm left 8 to 10 inches of cold, low-density new snow without too much wind. Problematically, the snowpack is comprised of soft wind slabs and/or storm slabs over facets. Occasional collapses in the snowpack occur, mainly below treeline, on a variety of aspects. South and sheltered west aspects have some crusts surrounded by facets in the lower snowpack. The lower half of the snowpack is cohesionless faceted snow. Stability is improving but there are plenty of places that did not get a sufficient load to trigger avalanches. I did not observe any recent avalanches on this short tour.