Vail & Summit County
AvalancheJason Konigsberg, Mike Cooperstein · Apr 21, 2017 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Recent snowfall was around 5 inches. On sunny slopes the new snow had already settled to 2 to 3 inches. On a near-treeline ridgeline, wind was light to moderate and wind loading was light. Wind speeds and wind loading looked to be more solidly moderate on the higher, above-treeline ridegelines.
Snowpack
Overall the new snow was well bonded to old underlying crusts and slushy layers. The new snow was not deep enough in non-wind-loaded areas to cause much of a problem. On northerly slopes below 12k feet the snow was quite moist. On steep rollovers it was easy to start mini avalanches in in moist snow that would slide on a crust. Again...not enough new snow to be an issue. We would expect above-treeline slopes to be more heavily wind loaded and there to be a possibility of triggering a small Wind Slab avalanche on southeast quarter slopes. Any instability will likely subside quickly with the warm spring temperatures. Loose Wet avalanches will be likely on Saturday but will be very small and generally harmless unless you are traveling in extreme terrain.
Avalanche
Very small Wind Slab avalanches just below ridgeline.