Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

seth Hyman · May 18, 2014 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

40f @ 0730, bright intense sunshine, with burgeoning cumulous clouds to the NE, Afternoon brought rain showers gusty winds@ 30 Mph, and poor visibility. Atop false eastern summit.... AEB icicles formations on rocky features not melting, temps were sub freezing in shaded areas below @1100ft moisture content of snow exceed acceptable limits. Skin track along s willow had disappeared from melt during the day

Snowpack

Spring variability,

Avalanche

HUGE wet slab slide on SE face of Peak to the NE of Red summit ((Silverthorne?)). 1000 Vertical ft@ R2-3 Avalanche trend is very obvious. Steep SE slopes buttressed by or imparted with rocky promises at the top, and funnel shaped at mid slope or lower. We triggered numerous small wet loose slides as we traversed the ridge West towards the true summit. Wet loose Avalanche activity became widespread at approximately 11am