Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams · May 7, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Moderate westerly winds with strong to extreme gusts and snowing about an inch an hour.
Snowpack
It snowed about three inches while I was in the field and the westerly winds were drifting snow onto easterly-facing slopes. There was about four inches of snow at 11,500 feet in undrifted areas. Closer to 12,000 feet the height of the storm snow was closer to 8 inches and in drifted areas was over a foot deep. In leeward areas, the surface was either scoured back to hard a melt-freeze crust from before the storm or there was one to two inches of new snow. The recent storm snow had an obvious density change when probed with a ski pole where the snow from today was lower density than the snow from the day before. On the ridgeline, new cornice development was touchy and I could get chunks the length of my skis to fall off by whacking the edge with my pole. On a drifted slope that was less than about 35 degrees, I got no cracking in the new snow and couldn't get the drifts to slide. Higher on the ridge at about 12,200 feet, I was able to trigger a small avalanche by jumping onto the edge of a slope that is steeper than about 35 degrees. This avalanche broke at the density change in the new snow and was about four to eight inches deep. The slide propagated about 100 feet but did not run down the whole path. The slide arrested as soon as the slope angle lessened about halfway down the slope. During my travels, the melt-freeze crust below the storm snow was supportable to ski and boot travel. Visibility was challenging with the winds and snowfall. A few inches of snow had accumulated down in the valley at 9,000 feet when I returned home.