Details

• Date: 2018/01/02

• Observer: Jeff Davis Kreston Rohrig
• Organization: Forecaster, CAIC

Location

• BC Zone: Vail & Summit County
• Area Description: Tiptop peak, Montezuma

Weather

• Ridgeline Wind Speed: Calm
• Ridgeline Wind Direction: W
• Wind Loading: Previous
• Sky Cover: Clear
• Weather Description: Temperatures were in the low to mid 20's. Skies were clear with light winds.

Snowpack

• Snowpack Description: The snowpack continues to settle from the recent holiday storm. Winds have heavily affected the alpine. Most windward slopes above treeline were scoured, but North and East facing slopes and cross-loaded gullies continue to hold snow. Southerly slopes were warming under the strong sun . On exposed slopes, the surface slab (created by recent winds) was so firm that it was hard to set an edge and the surface was strong enough to hold a persons weight. Near-treeline slopes had the deepest snowpack observed today. In general, the snowpack observed had three distant layers across the terrain traveled. 1. New snow from the holiday storm that was decomposing, 2. a buried wind-slab that developed during the dry spell in early December and sits at the new/old snow interface, and 3. a large layer of facets and depth hoar on the ground. The facets and wind-slab layers will be an issue with a large load. The Persistent Slab avalanche structure was observed on most slopes today but was generally unreactive.

Avalanches

• Avalanche Description: Widespread avalanche activity following the holiday storm. Most avalanches were observed on Northerly facing slopes.

	Date	Location/Path	#	Elev	Asp	Type	Trig	SizeR	SizeD
	2017/12/26  †	Other	2	TL	N	HS	N / u	R2	D2.5
Date: 2017/12/26 (Estimated) Observer: Jeff Davis Kreston Rohrig Organization: Forecaster, CAIC Area Description: Some of the lager slides observed stepped down to lower weak-layers at the near treeline band gouging snow from the track. Landmark: Other
	2017/12/26  †	Other	1	>TL	SE	SS	N / u	R2	D2
Date: 2017/12/26 (Estimated) Observer: Jeff Davis Kreston Rohrig Organization: Forecaster, CAIC Area Description: Avalanches on South-facing slopes following recent wind event. Landmark: Other
	2017/12/26  †	Other	3	>TL	N	HS	N / u	R2	D2
Date: 2017/12/26 (Estimated) Observer: Jeff Davis Kreston Rohrig Organization: Forecaster, CAIC Area Description: Multiple avalanches observed in the Montezuma area following the holiday storm. Landmark: Other Sliding Surface: G - At Ground/Ice/Firm Weak Layer: Layer Weak Layer Grain Type: Faceted Crystals

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