Vail & Summit County

Avalanche

Colorado Adventure Guides · Dec 16, 2018 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Started tour around noon. No to calm wind and partly sunny. Noticed wind pick up to Light to moderate WNW at around 11,400ft. Few clouds building to the SW as tour progressed.

Snowpack

Noticed sun crust around 5cm thick on South at 10,600ft while touring up the road. Started noticing presence of Surface Hoar at 10,800ft and stopped at around 11,200ft. Group B pit profile WNW @ 11,400ft revealed HS96cm and a slight strong over weak around 60cm. CTNx2, CTMRP. Knife hard layer at base of pack 25cm thick. Mostly right side up pack. Group A pit was intentionally dug just lee of a tree in a pocket of windslab created by the tree. Multiple layers of old stormslab capped by old windslab were observed. Pit elevation 11,500ft (NTL), on NW aspect (340), 25degree slope. HS73cm. CTMx2 SC @ 50cm, CTH SC @ 18cm, CTM SP @ 68cm. 18cm of F+ depth hoar found at base of pack.

Avalanche

n/a