Vail & Summit County

The human-triggered avalanche from 1/10/26 was impressive to see up close. Due to the abrupt terrain change at the bottom of the avalanche paths, the debris piled up much deeper than we could tell from previous pictures. The deepest parts were well over 20 feet deep.

Sunny day with a few high clouds and calm winds.

We dug on multiple aspects and didn't find anything out of the ordinary, given the dry weather pattern we've been stuck with. South-facing slopes were a layer cake of crust/facet combos, but lacked a significant slab. North-facing slopes near treeline were completely faceted. Even the stout Christmas crust we've been tracking had faceted through, and was starting to fade away into the other facets above and below it. Southeast near treeline was a mix of the two, with a few remaining crust/facet layers, but weak slabs in between that didn't propagate in stability tests. Bottom line, you would need to find a recently wind-drifted slope to trigger an avalanche around here. Most older slabs have eroded away either by wind or faceting, but in an area where recent loading formed a slab, the snow below is likely weak, and triggering an avalanche could be pretty easy.