Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Kreston Rohrig · Feb 8, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Surprisingly warm. It was 37F when I left the Vail valley and only dropped to 31F at the top of the pass. Ridgetop winds were still strong enough to produce large plumes of snow and obvious loading on lee slopes.

Snowpack

I didn't make it too far as I was breaking tail through thigh to hip deep snow. This was the most telling thing I learned from today. The storm snow is deep and settling rapidly. Still, there is between 2 to 3 feet of snow plastered on almost all aspects at all elevations. The only slopes that are devoid of snow are high elevation westerlies that were stripped by constant raging winds.

Avalanche

Surprisingly, there were very few avalanches that I could see today. There was one in the "Lobster Claw Bowl" on Uneva, and a couple on Shrine Bowl. There was one decent one in the Y of the "SKY Chutes" but it didn't even make it to the apron of the runout.