Turnagain Pass

The persistent slab is a problem that doesn’t go away quickly.  The last major storm was on Sunday, almost a week ago.  Since that storm, when many large avalanches were recorded, we haven’t seen a lot of avalanche activity.  This is mostly due to a lack of triggers (people) in the backcountry this week.  However, the problem has been bad enough to warrant an extended stretch of elevated danger ratings.  Our test pits performed every day this week have not shown appreciable improvents in the strength or propagation potential of the snowpack.  Check this video for a test done yesterday on Pete’s North.

It’s worth recapping some of our recent avalanche activity to pick out the trends.  Avalanches have been triggering remotely, often from ridges and propagating across large distances.  Wind blown ridges offer a trigger point where the snowpack is shallow and a person’s weight is more likely to collapse the buried weak layer.  In deeper areas, a collapse may still be caused by a larger trigger such as a snowmachine or a group of people.  Avalanches have been observed on all aspects (N, S, E, and W), and elevations from just below treeline to >3500 feet.  Few people have ventured into higher elevation steep terrain, which is a good self-preservation tactic right now.

Standard warning signs such as whumphing, shooting cracks, or avalanches on small indicator slopes are unlikely right now.  Avoiding steep terrain is the only effective management tool we have to deal with the current problem.