Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Mike Floyd · Feb 27, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Cold and mostly snowy with occasional breaks of sun. A couple inches fresh when I started was about four by the end although the wind picked up and moved it around.

Snowpack

The snowpack has approximately doubled in this area over February. Most places near and below treeline held around 125-250 cm of snow. There are firm crusts mixed in with the upper meter of slabs of drifted storm snow on south aspects. These are supportable and continuous across most terrain. The midpack is denser (pencil hard) and thick, formed from the snows of early February. The lower snowpack is weak and faceted but difficult to affect unless you find a very steep and shallow area. Stability is improving with the added depth and passage of time but the troubling weak snow near the bottom is worth paying attention to.