Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Mar 2, 2025 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Sunny day with zero clouds in the sky. A slight breeze, but mostly calm.
Snowpack
The snowpack near a recent avalanche above Lost Lake was around 220+cm and relatively strong. The upper slab has settled to 1 finger to pencil hard and sits above facets that have gained strength (up to 1 finger as well). This was on a northeast-facing slope at 11900'. This might be a deeper area as it was on the leeward side of a ridge. I also dug a quick pit on an east-facing slope at 11700' and found a slight shallower snowpack (170cm). The slab was a little thinner, but the facets were also rounding and gaining strength. The recent warm temperatures had formed a very thin crust (2mm), but it was spotty and not much of an issue for future problems. I did get a small collapse while crossing a thin wind-scoured section.
Avalanche
There was a large avalanche triggered by a massive cornice fall. Judging by the missing section in the cornice and the large chunks in the debris, it was a big trigger. The slope did break into deeper layers a couple hundred feet below the ridge.