Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Devon Haire · Jan 14, 2020 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

From weather station at Arapahoe Basin summit at 0900hrs: Hourly wind speed- 36 mph Hourly wind direction- 199 Hourly peak gust- 53 mph Air temp- 13.9 F

Snowpack

Significant sasstrugi on fetch between Widow Maker and The Professor and new cornice at the top of The Professor. The slope has been skied previously and tested with explosives but had significant wind slab this morning.

Avalanche

Witnessed a skier triggered avalanche around 0900hrs on an ENE aspect at approx. 11,200ft (Latitude: 39.64791 Longitude: -105.87889) from A-Basin Patrol Headquarters. SS-ASu-R1-D1-I Skier who triggered it got out in front of the sluff and got away. Skier's partner descended the ridgeline to the skier's right of the avalanche.