Vail & Summit County

Broken skies with light winds. Temperatures were a few degrees below freezing.

The near treeline slope I intended to dig on was too tracked to find a good spot. I opted for further below the treeline in an opening just below the ridge. Not surprisingly, the snowpack where I dug on a northeast-facing, below treeline slope was very weak and faceted. Lower down, in the gulch, I noticed a 20 to 30cm thick slab above a thin weak layer. That slope was more exposed to the wind and sun, where I dug was sheltered and mostly shaded. Instead of an upper slab, there were cohesionless facets resting on a decomposing crust layer. On a steeper, more continuous slope, I could have easily pushed a small, loose dry slide. There was an obvious weak layer just below that crust, the same as what I saw lower down, with another 20cm of very weak facets below that resting on the crust/wind layer from mid-December. Seems that if you found an area with a continuous surface slab and triggered a slide, it would easily break down to at least the mid-December layer. I think the issue here is finding a continuous slab. Last time I was here, about two months ago, I noticed a recent avalanche on a northeast near treeline slope. That slope was still scoured and not filled in, thanks to the bed surface melting out from warm, dry weather and strong northerly winds earlier in the month stripping the slope. I did notice a recent avalanche on Bald Mountain just above the treeline and immediately below the ridgeline on a southeast-facing slope. It looked similar to many of the recent slides on Loveland Pass that broke on east, southeast, and south-facing slopes just below ridges.