Observation: Turnagain

Location: Magnum

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Toured up the north ridge of Magnum from Sunburst parking lot. Didn’t start until 1130 am and due to the warm temperatures overnight the crust from the road up to 2000′ was punchy and had unconsolidated wet snow underneath. Decided to try out the north aspect on Magnum due to the punchy crust on the climb and found more supportable snow conditions but not great skiing. Report from another group in the area was that south and west aspects on Sunburst were more supportable at higher elevations and had good soft corn skiing.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Obvious signs of instability
Recent Avalanches?Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?No
Observer Comments

We saw lots of recent avalanches but it is getting hard to tell the age of many crowns because there are so many similar looking wet slides. See photos for details.

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

Very warm temperatures, in the 40s F at the road by 1130 am and into the 50s or 60s at 330 pm. Calm winds and no cloud cover.

Snow surface

Partially melted and breakable melt freeze crust from the road up to 2000'. Above 2000' the snow underneath the crust was drier and made for more supportable travel. The melt freeze crusts were about 20-30 cm thick at 2000' and were mostly melted on south facing slopes by about 3 pm.

Snowpack

We dug one snow pit on a north facing aspect at about 2500' but did not find anything interesting. A very strong and right side up structure in the top meter.

Photos & Video
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