Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Jason Konigsberg · Apr 2, 2018 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

I didn't make to ridgeline but it was obvious winds were intense. Previously built small cornices above southerly slopes were being stripped back by the fresh southerly winds. I did not observe any effective wind loading.

Snowpack

Very good freeze on the night of 4/1 with snow surfaces frozen down to the trailhead at 9700ft. The snowpack was supportable to skis both on the ascent and descent with conditions resembling corn snow below 11k ft at 1 PM. Above 11K ft the melt-freeze crust on southerly slopes softened just a bit, while more westerly slopes held a colder snow surface of wind-packed crusts and wind-drifted snow. The snowpack depth (HS) in the start zone of this avalanche path averages about 90 cms with 0 to 30 cms of snow along the more westerly side and up to 170 cms on the more wind-loaded, southerly slopes.---I dug in one of these more south-facing areas at 12k feet with an HS of 90cms and found multiple layers of melt-freeze crusts all the way to the ground. Melt water from previous warm-ups has reached the ground and the depth hoar and refrozen creating a strong and stable snowpack. There was not much of a slab above the uppermost crust.---No signs of instability or any wet or wind slabs issues were observed.