Turnagain Pass

We do not know if any new avalanches occurred yesterday during the cloudy and windy weather. The last known avalanches were from Saturday through Monday when a couple wind slabs were triggered as well as soft slabs in sheltered areas 12-18″ deep. These likely failed on weak snow formed in January.

After several days of small weather fronts bringing moderate to strong easterly ridgetop winds and just a few inches of new snow, there is a larger storm approaching today that will peak tomorrow. Until the snow starts to pile up late tonight, it will be the winds (easterly 15-20 mph gusting 40-50) that will be driving the avalanche bus.

Hence, another round of fresh wind slabs are expected to form today on any exposed slope and in most areas in the higher terrain. These slabs could be 1-2′ deep and sitting on weak snow, making them more reactive than your typical wind slab. Even though there have been several windy days, I’m guessing the winds will still find enough loose snow to create new wind slabs. Paying attention to what the winds are doing will be key. Avoiding any slope with active wind loading, staying out from under big slopes that might be getting loaded from above, and sticking to the lower angle sheltered terrain (30 degrees or less) will be a good bet for a fun day without avalanche issues.

Graphic below shows the expected snowfall totals for tomorrow, Friday. Add to these numbers 4 to 6 inches, that is what is expected tonight.

Big thanks to the National Weather Service for producing these snow and avalanche guidance products. If you don’t have it bookmarked yet, here is the link to their avalanche page.

Friday’s storm will be the first significant snowfall in a month that Turnagain Pass and the surrounding mountains have seen. Unfortunately, there is a weak layer it will be loading and avalanche conditions could become very dangerous in the foreseeable future. The weak layer is from the January cold and dry spell and is a mix of faceted, sugary snow, and buried surface hoar. This will be an issue at all elevations, including lower elevations and slopes that are sheltered in the trees – something to clue into if headed out for some storm skiing/riding.

For today, before the snowfall, anywhere from 8-18″ of snow currently sits on this January weak layer in sheltered areas. It has produced a couple small avalanches so far on steep rollovers. Watch for these steep sections in the trees as well as exposed areas in case you trigger one of these slabs. As always, red flags like cracking and whumpfing/collapsing in  the snowpack are bulls eye clues for unstable snow.

Check out Mik’s video from Carter Lake yesterday. This area is in the central Kenai Mtns, but this setup is very similar to the forecast zone and many areas region-wide.

Snowpit from lower elevations in the Placer Valley zone (Skookum drainage). Note the sugary facets. This layer could start producing large avalanches if it gets loaded with another 2 feet of new snow, which is the amount expected by Friday night. 

Glide avalanches are still a concern on any slope with glide cracks present. We have not seen or heard of one releasing into an avalanche for two weeks now, but that doesn’t mean a crack can’t release today. Continuing to avoid any time under glide cracks is prudent.