Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg · Nov 21, 2019 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Light snow stopped around 12:30 PM with sky cover generally decreasing in the afternoon. Storm totals from the last few days is 4 inches. Winds were calm to light at ridgetop with no noticeable wind drifting.
Snowpack
The snowpack consists of mostly faceted crystals from the ground to right underneath the new snow. In some areas, such as northeast-facing slopes directly below ridgetop, the slab from late-October/early-November is pencil hard and 6 inches thick and sits below the new snow. It is incredible how weak the snow directly underneath this old slab. In fact the weakest snow in most locations is the old snow closest to the surface. Interesting but somewhat irrelevant as any modest load will surely results in avalanches whether they break at the ground or a foot up from the ground.---As far as current snowpack conditions there isn't much to talk about and the 4 inches of new snow has not changed things much. I observed only isolated cracking and no bigger signs of instability such as long shooting cracks or sounds of collapsing. The only area of concern was right at ridgetop on a northeast-facing near to above treeline slope where the new snow was drifted into small slabs up to 8 inches thick. I kicked cornice along the ridgeline without any results. About 10 to 20 vertical feet down from the ridge, the new snow became much softer and lost some of its slab-like characteristics.
Avalanche
None observed