Vail & Summit County
AvalancheDrew Gibson · Apr 28, 2015 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Calm and clear, hot temperatures with intense solar radiation by 0930
Snowpack
Breakable crust (~1-2cm) on valley floor with ~15-20cm of decomposing new snow underneath. This was sitting on an old melt freeze/frozen moisture layer. Did not inspect further. Above treeline the melt freeze was not as thick on the W aspect with the ~20cm of snow sitting on top of the same aforementioned layer. Did not inspect further.
Avalanche
Observed a SS-N-R3-D3-O/G slide on the NW aspect of Drift Peak. Debris ran to the bottom of the apron with the skiers right side over taking a small terrain feature. Extensive obvious crown lines were observed throughout the face, with some places blown in, this would suggest that this slide occurred sometime during the night of the 26th/27th. The crown line extends high to the summit with obvious communication into the rock bands/chokes. Some of these chokes have ripped out to the ground suggesting a shallower snow pack than what was thought. The lower part of the track had 2 areas gouged out down to ground, but the majority of the bed surface was old snow. Obvious areas in the upper track had also stepped down. The debris was over 3m in many places. This slide was given the “R3†rating due to the fact that a large amount of snow still hangs above the apron.