Vail & Summit County

Oddly, we did see a recent avalanche. It was hard to tell from the feature, which was tucked in a tight gully, but the debris appeared to be from a Loose Wet Avalanche. I'm guessing there was a sunny panel out of view that failed with warming temperatures and direct sunlight.

Sunnty, warm day.

At lower elevations, the snowpack is only a few inches to a foot in deeper spots, and is capped by a decomposing rain crust. I wasn't able to climb high enough to see where the crust disappears, but I'm guessing it's somewhere between 10,800' and 11,000'. I dug in a deeper north-facing drift and found 60cm of settled snow with significant facets forming beneath the rain crust. This will likely be the next weak layer of concern when we get a significant new load. On sunny aspects, the snow was rapidly turning moist and gloppy.