Observation: Turnagain

Location: Sunny Side

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Group of 4 skied on the Sunny Side: south end of Turnagain Pass on the motorized side.
Surface snow was 1-6″, deeper and good skiing where it was blown in a bit, not good skiing where it was thinner,.
We were bummed to find a stout crust under that new snow all the way up to 2200′. Crust was edgeable and fast.
We did not get higher than 2200′ because we were twice turned around by very large and loud whoopfs (50+ feet wide).
We were glad that the mountain was “polite” in giving us a gentle warning not to go higher and didn’t get dramatic – no shooting cracks – no moving snow. We didn’t dig because it was pretty obvious we had propagating instability. So, we just kept our slope angles well under 35deg and our run outs long and wide, no terrain traps.
3 short laps total in the warm sunshine made for a nice morning.

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?No
Collapsing (Whumphing)?Yes
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?No
Observer Comments

2 very wide and loud whoompfs just as we transitioned from low-30 degree angle to mid-30 degree angle slopes. Turned around right on the red transition on our Gaia App slope angle map.