CAIC

CAIC: Colorado Avalanche Information Center

BC Zone Observation Report

Tuesday, March 22, 2016 at 12:00 AM
Vail & Summit County

Details

Date: 2016/03/22

Observer: Jason Konigsberg
Organization: Forecaster, CAIC

Location

BC Zone: Vail & Summit County
Area Description: Mayflower Gulch

Weather

Ridgeline Wind Speed: 20-30 mph
Ridgeline Wind Direction: SW
Wind Loading: Light
Weather Description: Skies went from scattered to overcast to broken. Lots of sun breaks in the late morning. Near and above treeline the temperatures felt cool with the moderate sustained wind. Stronger wind near ridgetop is still finding snow to transport although not significant.

Snowpack

Snowpack Description: Snow surface is a variety of crusts (wind and melt-freeze) with some settled snow in very sheltered northerly locations.--- Southerly aspects near and above treeline did not soften.---Snowpack on north aspect near treeline contained settled storm snow over a well-defined layer of facets. (see snowpit attached)

Avalanches

Avalanche Description: Did not observe and fresh avalanches. Older avalanches were relatively shallow Wind Slab avalanches.

Date

Location/Path

#

Elev

Asp

Type

Trig

SizeR

SizeD

View

2016/03/20 ^†

Other

1

>TL

NE

U

N

R2

D2

Media

Images

<b>Figure 1:</b> Cornices are growing and may collapse with a person's weight. We will need to give these cornices a wide berth. A cornice collapse could result in a long fall and could also trigger a subsequent avalanche on the slope. (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/l5ztrg2xzanpdz7t7r2w8z2ozgt7?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=77f836d9f1d2b7f0e8081b17894fb844','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)

<b>Figure 2:</b> Wind Slab avalanche likely to have occurred on or before 3/20. (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/3cc9v4y24grg61200hs7t261tf5i?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=b8709a38196d6ec200427780a497d284','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)

<b>Figure 3:</b> Facets are buried about a foot down. If the storm comes in as forecast, human-triggered avalanches will be likely on this layer. (<a href=javascript:void(0); onClick=win=window.open('https://caic-production.imgix.net/xtlfyyfq8xqdobb8tpe5504s1wtf?ixlib=php-3.1.0&s=c1a3fb225ecfcb1934420785509d8a0c','caic_media','resizable=1,height=820,width=840,scrollbars=yes');win.focus();return false;>see full sized image</a>)