Turnagain Pass

Over the past week of sunshine and warm weather there have been widespread wet loose avalanches releasing on southerly facing slopes and a couple small glide avalanches. However, with the cooler temperatures the past couple days, these have been much less common. We know of no confirmed avalanches yesterday.

Another quiet weather day will keep the avalanche danger LOW. Snow surfaces are a mix of sun crusts, old wind crusts, a lot of tracks from the past couple weeks, and some keen folks are finding nice soft surface snow on shady aspects and in the lower angle trees. If you are headed out for a short day or a longer adventure to a new area, be sure to keep up with good habits. These are watching for any red flags (cracking in the snow around us, collapsing/whumpfing in the snow under us) and safe travel protocol (exposing one person at a time, having escape routes planned, watching our partners and posting up in safe zones). The winter mountains always harbor surprises somewhere. Although triggering an avalanche is unlikely, below are some things to keep in mind.

Wet Loose Avalanches:  Daylight savings time started today. This means solar noon is just after 2pm (when the sun is at its highest) and the warmest part of the day tends to be 3-5pm. Hence, if we are looking for the sun crusts to warm and soften, no need to get up early. And, if they soften too much, we could start triggering small wet sluffs. Typically the top 4-5+ inches needs to soften to start triggering these.

Lingering Wind Slabs:  In the upper elevation steep and rocky terrain, there can always be some small pockets of old wind slabs that may still be able to release. This is most likely in areas where a slab(s) is hanging onto steep features and not necessarily supported from anything under it.

Cornices:  As always, give these a wide berth. They can pull back much further than expected.

Glide Avalanches:  A couple small glide cracks have released into avalanches over the past week. Although there are not many cracks where most people travel now, I’m guessing we’ll start seeing more and more open up as the spring progresses. Be sure to limit time under these as they can release at anytime.

Sunburst’s much loved SW face with a lot of tracks over the past 12 days of sunny March weather. Photo taken yesterday by Megan Guinn, 3.11.23.

Unless the sun heats up southerly slopes enough to soften the crusts, shadier aspects harbor the best snow conditions. This is looking up at Pastoral Peak from Taylor Pass. This photo also taken by CNF Avy Center Intern Megan Guinn yesterday, 3,11.23.

As mentioned in the Bottom Line, there is a thin layer of faceted snow buried 1-2′ deep that is still a concern in a very small section of the forecast zone and could extend further to the south. On Monday, 6 days ago, a skier triggered a wide avalanche a little over a foot deep above Johnson Pass in the Bench Pk area. This avalanche released after several skiers had already descended the slope. This is a common sign of a lingering persistent weak layer that may be stubborn to trigger but could still produce an avalanche. The snowpack near the Pete’s ridges to Johnson Pass and toward Summit Lake is different than the rest of the forecast area. The potential for human triggered avalanches big enough to catch and injure us is still low, but not out of the question in this area. We recommend careful evaluation of the snowpack and more conservative terrain selection.