Vail & Summit County

Snowpack

Stephanie Porter · Dec 29, 2012 · Vail & Summit County

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Weather

Very cold start at the trailhead, around -5 degrees F. By noon it was in the 15-20 degree F range. No winds below treeline.

Snowpack

Very reactive snowpack. Every step led to shooting cracks, whumping, or both. We did not go onto slopes over about 15-18 degrees due to these signs, and turned around sooner than we had anticipated. The snow was collapsable and deep on the way down. Since we did not feel comfortable skiing anything steeper, the going was slow as we didn't have enough slope angle to deal with the collapsing snowpack.