Observations

Turnagain

Observer: Public Observation

Location: Sunburst

Date: Nov 16th, 2012

This slide was noticed on our descent towards taylor pass from the sunburst weather station. It seems
very likely that our party triggered this avalanche. This slide was either remotely triggered from the ridge
or was triggered by a small (1'x1') chunk of cornice knocked loose during the ascent which rolled down a
connected slope. Either way extremely tender.

The crown was approximately 1-2' deep, 100-150' wide at the top which fanned out to + or - 300'
towards the base of the slope. Near the crown there was a bed surface that appeared snowy but the slide
quickly entrained all of the snow in the track, leaving bare dirt behind. The deposition area was
approximately 300' square with up to 5' of debris piled at the bottom of the slope and a 1-2' tongue of
debris reaching another 150' out into the valley floor.

Approximate crown elevation 3500 feet, aspect SW, slope angle 40+

Photo 1.

Lat: 60.7530 Long: -149.1789

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