Vail & Summit County
SnowpackZach Taylor · Apr 12, 2011 · Vail & Summit County
Weather
sunny in the early morning with increasing cloud cover as the day progressed. no precipitation, calm winds, did not get near a ridgeline though
Snowpack
Dug a snow pit on west facing aspect, 35 degrees steep, in the lower part of the "shit for brains" couloir. Altimeter read approx 11,900' Approx 2-3 inch deep crust (knife to pencil hardness) that would fully support a person on the surface, with 1.5' to 2' (1-5 finger density) deep wind slab beneath, that then sat on about 4" deep wet, faceted snow layer (fist density). This was the distinctive problem layer. 30cm by 30cm column compression tests scored 2Q1, 14Q2, and 28Q3 all failing on the wet faceted snow layer. All these scores came from the same pit. Did not dig much deeper and I did not measure the total snow depth with my probe. Sorry. Huge variability in scores makes me feel that the slope was in the "scary moderate" stability range, not low.