Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Apr 21, 2018 · Vail & Summit County

View on map

Weather

Six inches of dry new snow. Winds were calm near to below treeline but picked up in speed above treeline. The winds were just enough to drift and stiffen the storm snow. A thick mountain top cloud layer obscured the sky and prevented any heating of the snow today. Intermittent snow showers throughout the day amounted to just a trace. Temperatures felt cool and winter like.

Snowpack

The new snow near and below treeline sits on a couple inches of settled snow from the Tuesday storm. This Tuesday storm snow is stuck to the thick crust beneath resulting in a stable upper snowpack. There was no sign of instabilities and no evidence of a cohesive slab. Even sluffing in steep terrain was minimal. As we moved into above treeline terrain the wind picked up and the snow below ridgetop felt harder than sheltered areas below. Cracking in the storm snow was observed. Drifts below ridgetop were about a foot deep.---The visibility was very poor above treeline so observations are from a small areas as travel near cornices was unsafe without being able to see.