Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Andrew McWilliams · Feb 2, 2023 · Vail & Summit County

Weather

Much like the day before, single-digit temperatures warmed quickly into the teens with few clouds in the sky and light winds from the north and northwest.

Snowpack

There was a surprise 5cm of new snow on Loveland Pass that was very low-density. As the day began to warm with intense sunshine, some small loose dry sluffs began to run out of steep, cliffy areas. The new snow prevented any further surface hoar development and a thin melt-freeze crust was observed on southerly-facing slopes beneath the new snow from the sunshine yesterday. Extended Column Tests in snowpits yielded non-propagating results at the interface between the storm snow from last weekend and the previous surface with taps from the elbow. This interface was about 30cm below the surface. The snow was generally supportable, but I did fall into older, weaker snow a few times while traversing small slopes below treeline. No cracking or collapsing was observed while ascending or descending. The only sign of instability was a recent skier-triggered avalanche in the lower half of the Widowmaker slide path.

Avalanche

I observed an avalanche in the lower southwest and southeast-facing portions of the Widowmaker avalanche path on the south side of Loveland Pass. It appeared to be skier triggered with two tracks exiting the path. It may have been triggered on January 31, 2023.