Turnagain Pass Avalanche Forecast

We have received reports of several human triggered wind slabs over the last several days.  Yesterday my partner and I were able to release one of these slabs on a steep rollover on a west facing slope, as pictured below:

Expect more of the same today.  The warm temps of last week helped to form stout crusts on all but north facing upper elevation slopes.  Since that time we have seen less than a foot of new snow accumulation on Turnagain Pass and closer to a foot around Girdwood.  The last three days of clear and cold weather has helped to weaken the snow, particularly at the interface between these crusts and whatever new snow has fallen over the past ten days.  In areas that received wind loading in the last several days these shallow slabs will be sensitive to the weight of a person today.

Areas that have been sheltered from the wind are holding very weak loose snow.  We were able to easily trigger sluffs in terrain over 40 degrees yesterday.  Sluffs were relatively low in volume but were running long distances.  With this in mind, it will be important to manage your sluffs today.  The bigger and steeper the terrain, the greater the volume these sluffs will become. Don’t let your sluff catch up with you; turn away from moving snow, let it go past you or move faster than it to manage this problem.

With clear skies and just slightly warmer temperatures in store today, pay attention to steep slopes receiving direct sun.  There is potential for shallow damp loose snow avalanches to release naturally later in the day.