Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jeremy Primmer · Dec 10, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

The temperature dropped continually through out the tour. Looked like the cloud cover was going to break around noon but started snowing again at 1pm at S1

Snowpack

Found 10" to 15" of new snow since the beginning of the storm. I stayed mostly to southwest slopes, and I did not see any obvious signs of instability, but one party at the trailhead did report some shooting cracks on a west-facing slope near the treeline. I could not find any preserved surface hoar on sheltered slopes. The new snow was resting on a thick supportable melt-freeze crust up to 5” thick. Near the ridgeline, small cornices had started to grow. Visibility was minimal, but wind loading on northeast slopes appeared to be limited to ridge tops, and there was no recent avalanche activity.