Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKristen Buckland · Apr 22, 2018 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
low cloud cover in the morning with moderate winds, becoming clear and sunny by 10am. Estimated at 30 degrees F.
Snowpack
Roughly 10" of new snow fell on friday into saturday morning. The approach was wind blown and had obvious slab layers. By 11am snow was very dense and wet.
Avalanche
Upon cresting the lower ridge on the summit approach, my party noticed fresh ski tracks leading into an avalanche slide and debris on an adjacent couloir line about 1 mile away from us. One car was at the trailhead before our arrival, and we followed fresh skin tracks made that morning. We guess the avalanche happened around 9-10am. We did not get any closer to the avalanche. Upon return to the trailhead we talked with a group of 4 skiers who caused the avalanche. They made two ski cuts of at the top entry of the couloir and decided it was safe to ski. The first skier made 5 turns below the ski cut until the snow released and started sliding, he immediately exited the path and was not caught. They guessed the avalanche was 100ft wide, with a crown of 6". With a run path of possibly 150'. No one was injured in the slide.