Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Chris Benson · Dec 30, 2017 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Partly cloudy skies turning to mostly cloudy. Moderate to strong westerly winds with visible snow transport at ridge top for most of the day.

Snowpack

Variable HS with an average of ~70 cm. Noted surface hoar in protected trees in the morning. Test profile on NE aspect revealed facets and depth hoar with an apparent melt-freeze crust around 5 cm. Various tests suggest the interface between the recent Xmas storm (20 cm) and lower facets are weakly bonded with variable but sudden-drop failure characteristics.

Avalanche

Limited collapsing in untracked valley bottom. Observed crowns on multiple northeast, leeward aspects above tree line that had run within the last couple of days (R3D2) in the southeastern-most ridge in Mayflower Gulch.