| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Eddies
Eddies to 1400′
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
Moderate+ snow transport evident at ridgelines throughout the day
Light occasional transport anywhere not sheltered by trees up 1500'
Cracks propagated ~30' in a freshly wind loaded NNW aspect @ 1100'; slab depth was 1" to ~ 1'
Weather
Few clouds, temps in the 20s and light SW winds gusting moderate above 800'
Snow surface
In the trees, 3-6" of new snow from the end of last week sat on less dense older snow
Above 800' - usually the alder zone - widespread wind effect. While the light wasn't great, winds appeared to have hit a variety of aspects on the non-motorized side, with snow transport continuing throughout the day.
Snowpack
The snow surface inspired us to top out at 1400'. Up to that point at this low elevation, overnight winds appeared to have run parallel to the road facing slope from the SW, scouring aspects that face more to the south and creating isolated slabs up to 1' thick on more northerly aspects. This surface snow sat over a facet layer of varying thickness... in some places below 1200', the facet layer was thin (~1" thick) and sitting on a stout crust.
We dug in a recently wind loaded location @ 1400', NW aspect, HS=390cm, 25 degree slope - pictured below - with two layers failing:
CT 1(x2) PC, ECTP1 failing 25cm down - the slab was a 10" recently formed wind slab
CT 23, 25 RP, ECTP 28 failing 75cm down in a thin layer of facets w/ BSH present
Cracking just after leaving the trees in a recently wind loaded pocket.
Pit structure and results at 1400'
An example of a 10" slab from ~1200'. At this location, a thin (1") layer of facets sat below it, resting on a stout crust.
Also from 1200'... the skin track was feeling the wind!
New snow from the end of last week was slightly denser than old snow in wind protected areas. This shovel tilt test - from around 600' - shows the new/old interface and broke with moderate force.