1 image
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Feb 2nd, 2012
Location:January Weather Chart for Turnagain Pass
Observer: Wendy Wagner
Observation: For a higher resolution version click HERE.
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( Anchorage - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Feb 1st, 2012
Location:Front Range above Anchorage
Public Observer
Observation: Report from the Chugach front range this afternoon. Just returned from hike
above golden view. Major winds and wind loading - east to southeast winds
gusting to 80?
Suspect slab avalanches on flattop, peak three and elsewhere.
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| ( Turnagain )
Date: Feb 1st, 2012
Location:Tincan Trees (with map)
Observer: Wagner and Clark
Observation: Around 12-14" of medium density snow had fallen as of 3pm Feb. 1st (today).
Snowfall rates on Turnagain Pass, and up to 2500', were 2-3" per hour during the
afternoon and were not showing any signs of abating when we left. Winds, below
treeline, were moderate with strong gusts (20mph gusting 40+mph). These were
from the SE, E and NE. Snow became noticeably lower density with elevation.
Invert >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 31st, 2012
Location:Eddie's (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: I've been skiing Eddie's for 15 years. I think the "tree bomb" potential is the
biggest I've ever seen. Once the wind picks up, those bombs look like they
would weigh 50+ pounds. The lower trail through the trees is visually
overwhelming with beauty, but hugely stacked with snow on the trees. I wonder
how many of the newer skiers are aware of the risk by these tree bombs. Skiers
will be >>>> see observation for complete description
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| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 30th, 2012
Location:Sunburst Ridge (with map)
Observer: Clark/ Predeger
Observation: Followed a well-worn skin track up Sunburst Ridge today. Spent a good amount
of time looking for the new surface hoar that was reported over the last couple
of days and fortunately could not find any. A quick check on the NE side of the
ridge at about 3000 ft. revealed a more wind-hardened snow surface as opposed
to the soft, unconsolidated snow found on SW slopes. We climbed a
few hun >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Girdwood )
Date: Jan 29th, 2012
Location:Berg Peak, Kern/Winner Creek Divide (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied on Berg Peak along the Kern/Winner divide today. The skiing was good on
the S and W aspects, although generally a bit slabbier than Turnagain was
yesterday. 10-40cm slabs were present on all but the most protected pockets
above 2000'. We did not see any signs of these slabs failing. They seem to be
well bonded to the underlying snow. We noted hard hand shear on Q2 (and
sometimes Q3) sur >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 29th, 2012
Location:seattle creek (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Saw this glide crack at the base of main bowl while skiing in Seattle Creek. It looked fresh within the last
two days as the dirt is still showing. It ran all the way to the valley floor. While skiing we found wind
effected/scoured snow on the North West Aspects near ridge tops. Everything else was still
unconsolidated. No settling or whoomping only sluff to manage
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( Girdwood )
Date: Jan 29th, 2012
Location:Kern Creek (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: We skied in Kern Creek today. We had one large collapse. It was down low at
1200', on a S aspect, 30 degree slope. The collapse was on the surface hoar that
was buried Jan 22. In this location there is ~35 cm of snow above that surface
hoar. We noted that in several hand shear pits the surface hoar seemed to be
decomposing and the bonding across that layer was strong (hard hand shears, no
CT >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 29th, 2012
Location:Cornbiscuit (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Not much has changed since yesterday's observations. Snow continues to settle
and I noted that the intact, standing surface hoar is still developing up to
2500-3000' on Cornbiscuit west-south aspects.
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( Turnagain ) Buried Surface Hoar
Date: Jan 28th, 2012
Location:Southwest corner pf Pyramid, a ~1000 ft. (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Experienced some large scale and very disconcerting settling on the lower slopes
of Pyramid yesterday. We skied the west face in great conditions. Stability
was great up high with no sloughing or any signs of concern (CT 30+ Q3). We
started to skin back up from the base and intended to wrap around to the south
side. However, less than a third of the way up, somewhere around 1000 ft of
ele >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 28th, 2012
Location:Eddies (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up to the top of Eddies proper this afternoon. Broke through a stratus deck at around 1500ft and
noticed surface hoar growing on the snow surface above that. Winds were nearly calm and snow was very
light with no visible signs of instability. Dug a pit below the summit at 2700 ft on a SW facing aspect.
Dug down about 130cm, I estimated the total snow depth around 300cm, but could >>>> see observation for complete description
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2 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 28th, 2012
Location:Magnum (with map)
Observer: Kevin Wright
Observation: We found well developed surface hoar all the way on the ridge of magnum. Other observers found the
same thing in other areas at similar elevations.
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 28th, 2012
Location:Cornbiscuit/Goldpan/Superbowl (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Started the day up Cornbiscuit. Noticed intact surface hoar through the trees
and well above the alders going up the west face.
Skied our first run down the south face pretty far back through a steep section
dropping in just below where the south face ridge line gets really rocky through
a rocky section that was about mid-slope. There was significant sloughing over
the steeper rolls and t >>>> see observation for complete description
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 27th, 2012
Location:Turnagain (with map)
Observer: Kevin Wright
Observation: Lots of skiers and riders were enjoying the backcountry on Friday 1-27. The common observation was loose sluff on steep rollovers with sporadic 4-6 inch deep surface slabs. These slightly stiffer pockets were barely running when initated and remained quite small.
The one exception that we know of was on the South face of the large peak across from Granite creek campground. A significant wind s >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 27th, 2012
Location:Pete's South (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Quick Test Pit dug on Petes's south approximately at 3100 feet on the SW aspect of the ridge. Slope angle of 31 degrees with a total snow depth at 175cm. (Pit was in a shallow portion of snowpack near ridge top.) A CT24 Q3 at 35cm of interface of new snow with the near facet layer. An Extended column Test resulted in an ECTX. Skied SW aspects of slope with small/moderate skier trigger loose avalan >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 27th, 2012
Location:Magnum (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Took the dogs swimming at Magnum today!
Did a few runs south to west facing.
Clear skies and mostly light winds with a small amount of snow being transported
by stronger gusts. Deep powder. Wind affected just below and along the ridges.
Dropping in just east of the first prominent peak into a south facing line and
then breaking a knee deep trail directly back up to the peak noticed tha >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 27th, 2012
Location:Between Tincan common and propper (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: While skinning up Tincan Common, we watched some talented skiers drop in-between Tincan common and proper. Sluff was significant on steep roll overs but did not run very far due to slope angle and variance in terrain. a small propagation occurred at and between ski tracks on a recently wind loaded slope with a SW
aspect at around 3700'.
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 26th, 2012
Location:Sunburst W and S face
Public Observer
Observation: Winds 10 to 20 on ridge, stronger near first false summit (common). Snow has
settled a lot since Tuesday and is gaining density at new snow/old snow
interface. Quick observation noticed some rounding of facets. New wind skin was
rapidly forming on ridges and on more southerly aspects was already an inch or 2
in thickness and showed obvious surface tension. Light snow all day. Some
locations >>>> see observation for complete description
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1 Video | ( Girdwood )
Date: Jan 26th, 2012
Location:Max's Mountain (with map)
Observer: Wagner, Wright and Clark
Observation: Toured up Max's Mountain and found buried surface hoar below 2000' on the SW
side of the mountain. It sits roughly 35-45cm deep. We did have a few collapses
in this layer while skinning around 1400-1600'. In areas where it sits on a
harder surface we were able to get it to fail at CT 1-5 taps. Where it was
sitting on a softer surface (more frequently observed) it was harder to shear.
Above >>>> see observation for complete description
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2 images
| ( Other - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Jan 25th, 2012
Location:Whittier (with map)
Observer: Matt Murphy
Observation: AK DOT plow driver was clearing wind drifts on Tuesday evening in Whittier
around 9pm when he encountered a dense pile of snow that was difficult to plow
through. Upon further investigation during daylight on Wednesday morning, it
was determined that a wind slab avalanche was triggered on a steep bank on the
curvy section between the Whitter Tunnel portal and the boat harbor. Whittier
>>>> see observation for complete description
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2 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 25th, 2012
Location:Pete's North
Observer: Wendy Wagner / Adam Clark
Observation: From what we saw today, which is similar to what others have seen recently, the
new snow is showing good signs of bonding well with the old snow surface. We cut
down 3 sofa size cornices onto mid-upper 30 degree slopes that only produced
sluffing, this did entrain quite a bit of snow and ran till the slope angle
lessened (2-300+'). No propagation was seen. There was only loose snow under the
>>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 24th, 2012
Location:Sunburst W and S face
Public Observer
Observation: Between 30 and 40 inches of new snow. The quantity of new snow appears to be
compressing the buried surface hoar, we did however get one incidence of
collapsing in a location near a ridge top ( about 3200ft) where the snow was less
deep ( about 16 inches). Especially interesting since 2 people lighter than us
had already been there and the track settled with an extra 40 lbs or so of
weight. >>>> see observation for complete description
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| ( Turnagain ) Storm total on Tincan
Date: Jan 24th, 2012
Location:Tincan ridge (with map)
Observer: Kevin Wright
Observation: Loose snow on top of loose snow on top of more loose snow. It's deep out there. The top layer of snow
was more than a meter of soft 4 finger to fist snow. Boot penetration was 110cm. The 3 day storm
total was 85cm (33 inches) of light dry snow.
On an isolated column we could get the old snow interface to show itself with a compression test, but it
was a very insignificant shear in e >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Summit )
Date: Jan 23rd, 2012
Location:near manitoba (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Very very deep cold $moke out there! Honest waist deep or better and im 6'1"!
Safe slope angles to ski meant few turns just point it! No collapsing or
settling observed. Upper alpine appeared to have slight wind effect and some
ridges showed new small cornices had formed on SW aspect. Extremely blower pow
today, perhaps a gas powered leaf blower would have outperformed a shovel!
Visible natu >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 23rd, 2012
Location:Lower Pyramid Pk (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Trenched our way up through the woods today on lower Pyramid Peak. Ski
penetration was past the knees at times making for slow going. Temps were in
the 20's with calm winds and no falling snow. Snowpits at about 1800 feet on a
Southeast facing, 30 degree slope gave us easy failures on a layer of buried
surface hoar underneath the new storm snow (about 45 cm from the surface).
Total sn >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 23rd, 2012
Location:Eddies
Observer: Eeva Latosuo
Observation: Did another day of snow pack assessment / student lead tours at Eddies with AAS
Level 2. Another 20+ cm of new snow had fallen since 01/22/12 1500, ended up breaking
the trail again. Unreactive snow pack despite the added storm snow, no cracking
or whumphing, no response from small test slopes.
Did test + pits at the Eddies basemeadow below the uptrack trees. Nothing
surprising in results, b >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 23rd, 2012
Location:tincan trees
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up tincan around noonish. Knee deep off the skintrack. Two feet or
more everywhere. Crazy deep--too much snow for the mellow pitches and too deep
to feel confident getting on anything big and steep. No signs of instability
though aside from sluffing though even on steeper spots in the trees. Looked a
bit wind-effected above treeline.
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2 images
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Eddies
Public Observer
Observation: Observed wide spread cracking within the storm snow layer at Eddies with L2.
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Gods Country- lower Pyramid (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Between noon and 2pm it was snowing at least 2-3 inches per hr. During this time as we went up to do
our 2nd run, we observed widespread crack propagation both sideways and uphill. This coincided with an
increase in temps. As we were in mostly low angle terrain, the snowpack was mainly collapsing, though
on small steep test slopes, small soft slabs were running downhill with the cutest litt >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Placer Valley (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Motorized Observer Training with the Forecasters
Drove to Turnagain Pass in the morning to find heavy snowfall (approx. 2"/hr.) and very poor visibility.
Temps approx +9F at the car.
Drove back down to Placer to find slightly better viz and slightly warmer temps (mid-teens). Approx 10-
12" of new snow overnight and at times snowing 1-2"/hr. Upside-down snowpack was very "touchy" along >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Lower Lipps (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: We were able to ski cut soft slabs on the most wind affected aspects (generally
south facing). This was on the old/new snow interface. Minor propagation, but
enough obvious wind effect that we stayed on the lower slopes. Excellent powder,
with a lot of sluffing.
Winds were strong enough to bury the skin track between runs.
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Placer Valley and Turnagain Pass
Observer: Wendy Wagner
Observation: Here are a few pictures of RED FLAGS seen yesterday.
Widespread cracking and collapsing mainly in the new storm snow just above the
old snow surface. However, there are weaknesses at the new/old snow interface as
well. Specifically, some locations have buried surface hoar (lower elevation
trees) that were failing. Other areas saw failures in the near surface facets
just under the new snow.
>>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 22nd, 2012
Location:Tincan (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied and early run on Tincan today, maybe 8 inches of new snow at the bottom with
a bit more up around treeline. Winds were light down low and moderate at treeline
and seemed to be increasing throughout the morning.
We skied one of the alder runs on off the North Side of Tincan. There were no
signs of wind effect yet and the new snow was still soft (fist) even up high. Our
big obser >>>> see observation for complete description
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5 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 21st, 2012
Location:Corn Biscuit
Observer: Wendy Wagner
Observation: Ahead of the new snow forecast for Sunday (1/22), we have been mapping out the
general surface conditions to help predict how well any new snow will bond, as
well as existing snow that is available for transport with higher winds.
The surface snow on Turnagain Pass has a variety of faceted grains. Most areas
have around 2-10" of loose snow over a wind slab of varying depth. The loose
snow i >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Girdwood )
Date: Jan 20th, 2012
Location:Big League (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: One natural HS-D1 observed in an unusual location on apron beneath Big League. We assumed it was
related to compaction from sluffing off the steep face above until we triggered one of our own while
attempting to ascend the peak. Such conditions appeared to exist in numerous locations at higher
elevations, and we found the same creepy structure on a variety of aspects and elevations all aro >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Girdwood )
Date: Jan 20th, 2012
Location:Big League Area (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: A group of us toured up Max's headed for the Big League area today. We experience wind effected snow in a
number of places in the Big League Basin. On our way up into the upper basin I caused a small wind slab to
release at the base of my skis while setting a skin track. The avalanche was approximately 20 cm at its deepest
point narrowing to only a few centimeters on its edges, 5 meters w >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 18th, 2012
Location:Lipps (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Went up to Lipps and and skied the south side of the ridge. Snow was
consistently sugary top to bottom, with a little surface hoar low down. Saw a
single human-triggered sluff slide on the south aspect of Corn Biscuit. And
created a little sluffing on some of the steeper pitches we skied, also south
aspect.
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( Summit )
Date: Jan 16th, 2012
Location:near manitoba (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Found some >1" surface hoar on a protected northeasten aspect near manitoba 1/16
no other remarkable conditions other than the blower cold $moke!
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 16th, 2012
Location:petes trees south side (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Was noticing lots of surface hoar from road up until tree line
when it went away completely due to wind erosion, found
some really good snow and very small wind slabs cracking and
breaking (top 1" or so) at around 2200 ft
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 16th, 2012
Location:Up Spokane Creek (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied a couple south-southwest facing runs up Spokane Creek, finishing the day
just below the headwall.
Similar conditions to the past couple days, although the sluffing seems to
continue to mellow out slowly.
Noted significant surface hoar from the road to upper treed terrain, that was
not there as of late yesterday afternoon. Ranged from mm's (near the road) to
cm's (mid-trees). Wind >>>> see observation for complete description
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1 image
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 16th, 2012
Location:Cornbiscuit, South Face (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Site Characteristics:
Observation Location: Cornbiscuit
Aspect: S-SW
Elevation: 3500'
Slope Angle: 36*
Current Wx:
Sky Conditions: Clear
Air Temp: 6.4*F (Sunburst); -1.3*F (Center Ridge) at 0827 hrs.
Precip type/rate: No
Wind: Light out of the NW, small plumes observed on the western ridge of Pastoral
Snowpack Properties: surface snow was wind bu >>>> see observation for complete description
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 16th, 2012
Location:Turnagain Pass (with map)
Observer: G.Predeger
Observation: Generally stable riding conditions today. Most obvious observations from my day
in the field included large (3-4mm) surface hoar (SH) crystals forming in the
valley bottom. This coincided nicely with a layer of fog that was present all
morning in the Turnagain pass area (available moisture for SH formation). As we
gained elevation, the SH shrunk and eventually disappeared all together. We d >>>> see observation for complete description
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 15th, 2012
Location:Sunburst / Magnum Ridges
Observer: Adam Clark / Wendy Wagner
Observation: Climbed to the top of Sunburst on a nice day with few clouds, temperatures in
the teens, and light NW winds (0-5 mph, gusts to 15 mph). 4-8" of loose snow
covered hard wind slab in most areas.
We dug a pit on a western aspect, 36 slope angle, at about 3600 feet. No
failures on a compression test after 30 taps but we did get some sluggish shears
after knocking the shovel blade with a boot >>>> see observation for complete description
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| Public Observation
( Summit )
Date: Jan 15th, 2012
Location:near summit lake (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: saw evidence of numerous class 3 to 3.5 from midweek avy cycle...most crowns
filled back in or wind eradicated, most activity on north/northwest
aspects..debris ran far but primarily covered up with snow now, hiding death
cookies in the larger runouts...wind hammered on alpine ridges and tops of bowls
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2 images
1 Video | Public Observation
( Anchorage - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Jan 15th, 2012
Location:Peak 2, South Bowl (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up the south side of the Peak 2/Peak 3 area. Along the exposed ridge line the snow was very thin
and wind blown with varying wind slabs, hard crusts, and soft snow pockets. Went up the south bowl
adjacent to Peak 2 (just West of Peak 3) and dug a pit at 3100ft. The bowl had a deeper snowpack but
had the same hard slab/wind slab pockets. The pit showed a fairly shallow snowpack wit >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 15th, 2012
Location:Lipps (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied a few laps, south facing, back along the Lipps ridge. Seemed like a very
similar scene as south facing Magnum from yesterday. Same hard slab underneath
a few inches of fluff and same sluffing, although perhaps it has mellowed out a
bit. No signs of deeper instability noted. Most of the upper ridge line was
significantly wind affected, but good snow below (especially in more protected >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 14th, 2012
Location:Lynx Creek valley (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up Lynx Creek valley today, observed variable snowpack conditions that kept us to lower
consequence terrain. Lower in valley we had several collapses on an obvious weak layer about 30cm down,
weak layer seemed to fade out around 1,200 ft. Nice powder in trees. Pockets of shallow wind slabs near
and above tree line. Observed one relatively fresh looking natural slab size 1+ NNE around >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 14th, 2012
Location:Center Ridge (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied up and along center ridge, broke trail on the classic route up to the
observation point where I found a trail which came up a separate direction. 4
to 6 inches of fresh light snow on a crust. Up along the ridge the crust was
rock hard, below the Observation Point beyond the Weather station, the crust
could be postholed by the dog. No wind, temp below zero single digits at the
trailhe >>>> see observation for complete description
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5 images
| Public Observation
( Summit )
Date: Jan 14th, 2012
Location:Summit on Upper Summit Lake dIrectly across from T (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Snow low down is deep and fun riding, but up high we saw some wind slab action.
Pictures were taken close to a slide that appears to have ripped last night,
and slab movement occurred on a 30+ SE slope. Thank you CNFAIC for taking us out!
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( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 14th, 2012
Location:Magnum & Cornbiscuit (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Amazing day at Turnagain Pass in the sunshine (and shadows), despite the cold.
Great to see so many folks getting after it!
Skied two runs on Magnum S & SW facing back towards Superbowl. One run was
especially steep and through rockier terrain. Other folks were skiing similar
steep and rocky terrain in the same area, as well as further back towards
Superbowl - through even steeper, rocki >>>> see observation for complete description
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1 image
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 14th, 2012
Location:Eddies, Turnagain Pass (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied NW face of Eddies today. Did not find the rime crust in our pit. Profile
attached.
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5 images
| Public Observation
( Summit ) Summit natural avalanches
Date: Jan 13th, 2012
Location:Summit Lake (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: The photos show the recent activity in the Summit Lake area. Three naturals were observed yesterday
with the late afternoon clearing. I was also able to propagate wind effected areas on convex terrain
easily. The problematic layers were consistent throughout the stability tests down 17cm and 40cm.
The suspect, surface hoar, formed on Jan 5th and 9th. No rime crusts were observed. Compres >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| ( Turnagain ) Turnagain obs
Date: Jan 13th, 2012
Location:Lips (with map)
Observer: Forest Bommarito
Observation: Toured up Lips today with Forecaster Kevin Wright under clearing skies and 5degF temps at the truck.
Found 6" new snow from Thurs, with some areas forming a slight wind skin transitioning into a wind crust.
Light wind 5-10mph throughout the day. Tues storm snow was higher density and quite supportable with
ski pen limited to top 6" of new snow.
Dug a pit on a SW slope at 2800' to inves >>>> see observation for complete description
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| Public Observation
( Turnagain ) Pete's North
Date: Jan 13th, 2012
Location:Pete's North (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: We dug a pit about 2000' elevation on Pete's North, not quite to the highest trees (forgot the GPS, so
elevation is estimated). Found two layers of what appeared to be buried surface hoar, approximately 30 cm
and 35 cm below the surface. An isolated column failed on the top layer with very low energy but a clean
sheer at CT15. An extended column test in the same pit produced failure at ECT25 >>>> see observation for complete description
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( Turnagain ) Tincan
Date: Jan 13th, 2012
Location:Tincan
Public Observer
Observation: many obvious small windslabs on cornices and wind features, rollovers. Easy to
trigger, light snow runs fast on steeper rollovers. A lot of variability in snow
depths due to winds. Light steady breeze all day, some plumage on higher peaks.
Very Icy roads drive with care.
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( Summit )
Date: Jan 12th, 2012
Location:Summit Lake (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Summit Lake observations: Observed no red flags on skin into pit location.
Evidence of wind loading apparent, most noticeably on the west side of the
valley.
Dug a pit on a 38 degree slope on an aspect of 278, altitude of 2320'. Location
of the pit was near the crest of a convex rollover, among some hemlock trees,
fairly sparse. Pit depth was 165 cm, but snowpack depth exceeded 200. Fir >>>> see observation for complete description
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 11th, 2012
Location:Tincan Trees (with map)
Observer: Wendy Wagner
Observation: Very limited visibility today but did get an idea of how Turnagain Pass looks
after yesterday's (Tuesday's) 100+ mph winds and around a foot of snow (~1" water).
Many, but not all, of the Seattle ridge east facing gullies have some debris
at the bottom but crowns were hard to identify and/or look to be filled in by
snow/wind. Ridges and sub-ridges are scoured to the rocks in many places. Wi >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 9th, 2012
Location:Gold pan/bertha cr. (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: 21 runs in gold pan yesterday. 1/9. No signs of instability. Lack
of slab. Very good snow quality. Rime crust not so noticeable here. Seemed to be breaking down
compared to previous day(1/8). Possibly due to cold temps?
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2 images
| ( Turnagain ) Jan.7th/ 8th rime crust
Date: Jan 9th, 2012
Location:Turnagain Pass (with map)
Observer: G. Predeger
Observation: Poked around in the Seattle ridge area today to further investigate this rime
crust (photos). We found it to be widespread on all aspects above ~1600 feet.
Light density stellar crystals appear to be the layer directly beneath this
breakable eggshell-like crust.
CNFAIC forecasters will be paying close attention to this layer as the next
round of storms arrives in south-central AK.
NOTE: We >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 8th, 2012
Location:Eddies (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied a few laps on Eddies - NW, N, and W facing on mellow terrain.
Noticed the rime crust all over the mountain, but it was more evident on the N
and W facing lines we skied where it was shallowly buried, as it seems the N-NW
facing bowl was getting windloaded.
Vis wasn't great, but I didn't notice any soft slabs that had pulled out on the
steeper rollovers as they sometimes do when they >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Anchorage - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Jan 8th, 2012
Location:3rd and 4th Peaks, Rabbit Creek Valley
Public Observer
Observation: Skied between 3rd and 4th peaks into Rabbit Creek Valley. Good snow until the
wind kicked up. Temps 10 deg F, winds out of the north strong moving snow and
filling in our uptrack. Kept the angle down, runs in the powder were good and
significant fun. Last run saw a shooting crack in a shallow spot, then it
broke up into significant size blocks. Low angle so nothing slid, what a sight
to >>>> see observation for complete description
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3 images
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 8th, 2012
Location:Sunburst (with map)
Observer: Wendy Wagner
Observation: Overnight a very thin (2-3mm) rime crust formed just 1-3cm below the surface in
the new snow today (see photo below). It is present up to at least 3600' and likely to the tops of the ridges. This rime crust is very fragile, opaque
and may or may not have the impermeable nature that is notorious for causing future
avalanche problems, we will be watching it.
The NW winds picked up on Sunburst >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 8th, 2012
Location:Tincan (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Touring up Tincan, noticed that a very thin crust had developed overnight. It
was barely noticeable, and sat an inch or two under the surface. It felt like a
melt crust, although the Sunburst weather station said that temps were in the
low 20s last night. The day before (Saturday), the crust was not present in the
same place. The crust was barely noticeable when skiing, and was not reactiv >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Anchorage - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Jan 8th, 2012
Location:Peak 3 (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Skied the main bowl of peak three this morning. Winds increased from the AM
through the end of our ski at 1pm. On the ridge winds were moderate to strong
from the NW transporting snow. Visibility was poor most of the morning with no
recent activity observed on Peak 2 or Peak 3, couldn't see further back the
valley.
We skied by the snow pit from the 7th. There was about 10" low dens >>>> see observation for complete description
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1 image
| ( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 7th, 2012
Location:Tincan Trees (with map)
Observer: Wagner
Observation: This pit was dug to assess the bonding of the new snow to itself as well as to
the older snow.
2500', W facing @ 38deg.
Top 14" fist hard
14-18" 4finger hardness
18" and below 1finger harness going to pencil.
Total snow depth 8'.
CT13 Q3 just below the old/new interface in the decomposing fragmented snow that
has some slight faceting on the corners (@ 14" depth). This result was unrepea >>>> see observation for complete description
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No photo
| Public Observation
( Turnagain )
Date: Jan 7th, 2012
Location:United States (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up shoulder of Twin Peaks. Little to no wind, lightly snowing throughout the day. We dug a test
pit at approx. 2700ft. snowpack was 195cm on 35 degree east facing slope. Top 45cm of newer snow
sluffed off with CT 30+. Second compression test resulted in CT 30+ and shovel shear producing a Q3
40cm from the ground. Ski pen was 15-25cm and the skiing was good. No signs of recent natural >>>> see observation for complete description
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2 images
| Public Observation
( Anchorage - Outside Advisory Area )
Date: Jan 7th, 2012
Location:Peak 3 (with map)
Public Observer
Observation: Toured up Peak 3 today and skied down the NW facing slope just below the summit. At the top, temps
were in the single digits with moderate winds blowing from the North. Low clouds and light snow made
visibility poor. Dug a full pit in the middle of a West facing bowl at 3100ft. Snowpack was deep (145cm)
and quite solid with most layers bonded well together. Snow grains appeared to be si >>>> see observation for complete description
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| Public Observation
( Summit )
Date: Jan 6th, 2012
Location:Spirt Walker Summit
Public Observer
Observation: 01/06/201
Spirit Walker, Summit
SSW Aspect, ~3,000ft at ridge crest
SS-AS-R1-D1-I Small avalanche triggered by a ski cut. Bed surface was 4F Surface Facets
Shooting cracks and whoomphs on the ridge crest
A bit of a surprise because it was on the windward side, as evident by the surface texture and earlier
observed wind. We believe the wind pressed slab was new and formed that morning du >>>> see observation for complete description
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