Vail & Summit County
SnowpackDrew Gibson · May 21, 2013 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Below freezing with overcast skies all morning with low cloud level around 12800ft. Some gusts of very light wind, but no notable snow transport at time of observation.
Snowpack
Up to 4 inches of new snow in areas with no drifting noted until we reached ridge crest. Old snow surface is exteremely variable, some places being full depth boot penetration. The new snow layer(s) have bonded well to the old snow on steeper slopes thus far but direct heat will create sluffing very quickly. Some tempurature and density differences have caused the new snow to form a few different layers. Stability tests have showed poor results (both compression and sheer) on some steep (>38 deg) slopes leeward and cross loaded to the W-NW. Failures are isolated to the storm snow and are soft slabs in nature. Loaded storm snow on these isolated, steeper, aspects will remain touchy while it is cold. Collapsing under ski track was noted lower in the valley mid day after it had warmed up creating interesting trap door conditions around bushes and willows.