Vail & Summit County
SnowpackIan Fowler · Dec 12, 2024 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Calm winds and temps around 20degrees.
Snowpack
Below treeline there was about 30-40cm of snow that was entirely faceted. Near treeline we wrapped from east facing to north to west facing and found about 50-70cm of mostly fist hard snow. In one westerly area there was an obvious firmer area where winds had drifted the snow on this very isolated feature ski penetration reduced and we got a collapse the feature was smaller than a pickle ball court. As we ascended to treeline we dropped a little to the northeast and found a similar very firm pocket that we avoided but the feature was flanked by soft faceted snow with no slab. Close to this area we dug on a northeast aspect that had two firmer layers and a melt freeze crust below the lower firm layer. There were facets sandwiched between the firm layer and the crust which was also weakening and faceting. Extended Column Tests did not propagate on any of these layers. On southerly aspects there is a melt-freeze crust at the ground. About 25cm of facets and a 5-8cm zipper crust at the surface that made for very unpleasant skiing. Descending northerly slopes we were skiing facets the whole way with no slab.