Vail & Summit County
SnowpackAndrew McWilliams, Drew Gibson · Feb 28, 2023 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
A quick pulse of snow in the early morning dropped about 5cm of snow. Temperatures were in the teens and dropped late in the afternoon. Winds were moderate from the southwest. Another pulse of snow in the afternoon dropped another 5cm of snow.
Snowpack
The snowpack here was deeper than we expected. Below 10,000 feet the height of snow was over 100cm on northerly and easterly slopes. Westerly-facing slopes viewed across the valley appeared to have less snow, especially below and above treeline. Closer to 11,000 feet snow depths increased to 150-200cm and approached 300cm in deeper drifts. We dug snowpits on northeast and east aspects just below 11,000 feet. On the east aspect, Extended Column Tests had no propagating results and only one non-propagating result in the upper snowpack at a hardness change between two layers of rounded grains. The pit on the northeast had easy and moderate shear and compression failures in the upper snowpack with no signs of propagation. These failures occurred at the interface of decomposing new snow and older, mostly rounded grains.