Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKreston Rohrig · Feb 20, 2021 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
On and off cloud cover increased throughout the day. Light snowfall and moderate winds picked up in the afternoon.
Snowpack
I had actually expected to see a slightly deeper snowpack on this wind-loaded face, as it has a big fetch of snow to the west. Still, the total depth was around 145-160cm which is a welcome sight. Maybe depths are deeper under the menacing cornices that have grown significantly in the past few week, but I didn't care to venture into that terrain. The upper half of the snowpack is a dense slab formed during recent storms, and rests above weaker facets from earlier in the season. In this location, the facets are gaining strength and stability is slowly improving. I did not get any propagating results in stability tests. The problem is, deeper areas are moving in the right direction, but because of the raging winds this year, near and above treeline slopes have a highly variable snowpack. Digging in a deep spot may give you false confidence as the snowpack feet away could be much thinner and a more likely place to trigger an avalanche.
Avalanche
A small, soft wind slab had failed recently below the corniced ridge on a steep east face.