Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

I went out today to evaluate the snowpack structure and depth of snow on east and northeast aspects, mostly above treeline. On east aspects the snow coverage is patchy with many rocks and bare spots. Where there is snow on east-facing slopes, the snow depth is around 30 to 45 cms. The melt-freeze crust on this east aspect is very thick (~15 cms). The crust is also extremely hard and you cannot push your ski pole into it. Although there is faceted snow beneath this crust, it would take an extraordinary event to be able to trigger avalanches that break below this crust. This is just one area though and it is uncertain if the snowpack structure on other high-elevation, east-facing slopes is the same. As I moved to more northeast-facing slopes I found the snowpack structure to be much worse. The melt-freeze crust was much thinner (3 cms thick) and the facets below this crust were larger, more advanced, and more resembling depth hoar. Snow depth on northeast-facing slopes was also 30 to 45 cms. It won't take a lot of new snow on upper-elevation north and northeast slopes to make avalanche conditions touchy. You can only find a slab on top of this weak snowpack structure on isolated slopes at the moment but the addition of a cohesive slab of snow will result in abrupt change in avalanche conditions.