Vail & Summit County
AvalancheHugh Carey · Feb 12, 2018 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Blue skis, calm wind with temperatures between 15-25 degrees Fahrenheit at 11,400 feet on Sunday Feb. 11. The snow storm dumped 8-15 inches on previous day (Saturday) with high winds.
Avalanche
The avalanche occurred on a 31-33 degree slope facing NE at 11:30 am on Feb. 11. The crown looked to be 3-5 feet deep at around 11,800 feet. The avalanche was approximately 100+ wide and ran approximately 300 yards from crown to the bottom. Likely snowboard triggered as one of the members of our group made a brief descent along a ridgeline about 20 yards away from where the crown appeared within seconds after he snowboarded down into the NW face (the slide occurred on the other side of ridge facing NE). No one in our group was caught in the avalanche and did not see any other groups in the area all morning. The photos was taken from the west side of the path near the top at 11:31 am. The map picture shows the crown in red and where I was standing to capture photo and video in blue dot.