Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg Scott Toepfer · Apr 12, 2017 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Bluebird. Took wind and temps from nearby weather station. Winds were much less once you got below the ridge line. Temps ranged from 27F at tour start to when we finished the snowpit at 1:30...33F Sun & heat were intense in the S facing bowl where we dug pit. Bit of a breeze helped cool things enough to keep it within tolerance levels. Wetting front down about 5 cm.
Snowpack
Remarkably dry for this S aspect at ~ 12,700 ft down to 12,000 feet or so. There is a persistent weak layer 40 cm deep sitting on a pencil hard melt freeze crust. Tapping tests failed clean with moderate taps. Hmmm. A little surprised to find this on a south aspect. Certainly something to think about if water got to it. MF crusts above the PWL may make that difficult? Also, just don't like to see persistent weak layers (PWL) on crusts. May be more wide spread than we thought.
Avalanche
Small wet activity over the last week. West side of range.