Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Nick Barlow · Dec 30, 2017 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Warm and windy, with mountain wave cloud over the Divide. Winds were erratic and swirling. Around 1430, winds increased and dark clouds moved in from the NW. No precipitation observed.

Snowpack

I traveled on NE/E/SE-facing slopes N/ATL. Recent strong winds took their toll in this area, with mainly firm surface conditions observed. Some sheltered areas N/ATL still had softer surface conditions. Average HS was about 70cm, w/ deeper pockets and bare ground in some places. Very poor structure, with 30-40cm slab of recent wind-drifted snow sitting above 30-40cm of advanced facets and depth hoar. Snowpack strength was fair to poor. CT broke on isolation at depth hoar layer. Repeatable moderate to hard propagating ECT's on same layer, both ATL and NTL. Preserved stellar/storm intensity change layer about 25cm down was no longer reactive.