Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Tim Zander · Mar 28, 2021 · Vail & Summit County

View on map

Weather

SSE aspect 11500ft at treeline warm and sunny. Earlier in the day wind was gusty, maybe not in this location due to trees

Snowpack

Storm layer 10-15cm on top of crust. Pole baskets would not penetrate crust. Elsewhere we found snow to be very stable. Circumnav Deming via Eccles, red buffalo, col between Deming and West Deming and col South of Deming. Fresh snow was well bonded, no sloughing or penetration of firm layer on all aspects. Slight sun crust forming on surface of fresh snow on S and E aspects

Avalanche

Wet slab 2-3m*m triggered by me, slope was gentle, so stopped after 60cm. Was able to get two others to collapse similar size but didn't slide even 30cm downslope. Just 500' up elevation the snow was much drier, I hadn't expected to find this problem yet. Roughly 1pm