Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

West side of the the main meadow but East of the cornice. E-NE face 25degree slope,11,800ft, with moderate precip and 10-20MPH winds. No evidence of recent activity in any area during the tour. Found 115cm with 25cm fist harness 1mm powder sitting atop a knife hardness ice crust sandwiching some 3mm faceted on another ice crust @ 70cm and then 2mm finger/pencil all the way to the ground. Results were CT23 Q2 @72cm, and STH Q2 72cm. Of note, besides the pleasant lack of tracks, while traversing down and across to the left on a 27-28 degree section of the descent, 150 yds below our pit, I experienced some slight whomphing, and then a shooting crack 2-3" wide that ran 20 feet ahead of me on my line, and then shot 50-75 feet back and down towards my right. The slope held, and we carried on without incident, enjoying some real nice lines. Once down in the trees, it obviously thickened up just a little but, but not until the hike (10,300) out of the gully did the snow start to fell heavy with moisture. Safe Travels, Ty=