Observation: Turnagain

Location: Tincan

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Center Ridge parking to Tincan ridge 3200′.

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

Evidence of widespread avalanche cycle from the storm including recent cornice falls
Avalanches on Tincan, Seattle Ridge, north side of Sunburst, Magnum west face, Eddies south side and on the shoulder going to Tincan Peak.
Cornice falls - CFR, Hippy Bowl and the northern ridge of Todds
There were a number of small deep slab pockets at low elevation.
There were also a few small loose snow avalanches/point releases on Seattle Ridge

No cracking or whumpfing. Cutting small test slopes produced no results.

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

Mostly cloudy with snow showers in morning. Raining on the drive up to 300'. Broken skies in the afternoon.
Temperatures in the 20°Fs.
NE winds gusty at times in the afternoon, flagging noted off ridgetops

Snow surface

Soft snow 2" of new
The snow looked wind effected starting around 2000' but was still soft
Ski pen was around 30 cm /1'

Snowpack

We probed at 1200' and found HS: 300 cm, 12.1 crust down 235 cm.
We dug at 2200'. Pit #1, HS: 310 cm, 12.1 crust down 230 cm, dug down 150 cm. Did not dig to the 1.4 new/old interface just looking for any instabilities in the upper part of the storm snow. Found right side up snowpack with no test results.
Pit# 2, HS 300 cm, 1.4 new/old interface, down 170 cm (5.5'), 12.1 crust down 210 cm. No stability tests in this pit. Just looking at overall depth and structure. There was not a weak layer observed at the 1.4 interface. Consistent 1F snow. Thanks to AM for all the digging!
Probing along our route had a number of spots where we couldn't touch ground with our 320 probes.

Photos & Video
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