Vail & Summit County
AvalancheKurt Baker · May 7, 2015 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
Obscured, warm temps, humid and snowing between 11,000ft and 12,000ft.
Snowpack
West aspect, above treeline between about 12,000 ft. Ultra saturated snow pack. Widespread trap doors. No freeze. 2-3" of new snow insulating rest of pack. Reactive weak layer down from snow surface 6-8" in moist grains. Moist snow pack down 3' then drier snow. Several CT failures at isolation and one CT 17. Sudden collapse, planer result. Scary stuff! Toured around and poked at different areas to find the same thing. Rode a short 35 degree slope further up the valley and went home.
Avalanche
R1 D1 natural avy in the Marjorie Bowl that probably occurred an hour or two before we arrived.