Observation: Turnagain

Location: Eddies

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Standard route until popping out of the trees around 800′ and then headed to the north across lower open slopes and skinned up through the trees to 2300′.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

Rapid wind-loading
Collapsing in the open slopes between 800-1200'
Cracking on wind-loaded convexities

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Obscured skies
Light to moderate snowfall throughout the day 2-3" of accumulation, raining at sea level
Sustained NE winds 15-25 mph with stronger gusts
34°F at parking lot. Mid 20°Fs at upper elevations

Snow surface

2-3" of new snow becoming 4-5" by end of tour - heavier snow on lighter snow in the low elevation terrain below 600'sticky
In wind exposed terrain 2-3" wind crust trending to 6-8" slab
Along ridge above 2000' it is scoured to previous wind hardened snow and there is small sastrugi
Ski pen was really variable from 2-8" to no ski pen in wind affected areas

Snowpack

We dug at 1200' just before heading into the trees. HS 355 cm, pit depth 100 cm. See photo. The 2.9 facets were 35 cm down and propagated ECTP4 in both pits. Compression tests were failing underneath the 1.23 melt-freeze crust in small facets but no propagation on this layer.

We dug again at 2000' in a slightly wind loaded area. HS: Over probe depth probing from bottom of pit depth (100 cm). See photo. Both the 2.9 layer and the 1.28 layers were obvious but there was no results on the 2.9 layer. The 1.28 layer was intact buried surface hoar 8-12 mm. We both had propagation on this layer, ECTP23. Besides the soft surface snow the slab above the bsh was 1F to Pencil hard and the snow below was Pencil hard.

Take homes for the day...
Wind slabs were building and triggering a buried weak layer remains a possibility.

Photos & Video
Please upload photos below. Maximum of 5 megabytes per image. Click here for help on resizing images. If you are having trouble uploading please email images separately to staff.