Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Kreston Rohrig · Apr 18, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Full mixed-bag of spring conditions. Warm when the sun was out, but clouds increased throughout the day and kept any wet issues at bay. Super small flurries and light winds at ridgetop.

Snowpack

Not much to report as far as avalanche hazard. With clouds and a light breeze, the snow surface never warmed and was far from wet. Winds were not strong enough to cause any significant loading, and we only found a trace to 1 inch of fresh snow to move anyway. We were able to find some dappled wind-buffed snow in the alpine on a northeast-facing slope that was still dry and soft. Snow surfaces from east to south to west have just a trace of new snow sitting over larger grained poly-crystals. By mid-day, these had softened enough but were still mostly frozen.

Avalanche

I intentionally triggered a super small wind slab on a SW facing slope above treeline. Light winds today were barely moving snow, if at all. The slab extended around 10' downhill and was 4-6" thick. Completely harmless unless I was riding in steep consequential terrain.