Turnagain Pass Archives

Date	Problem #1	Problem #2	The Bottom Line
Sat, February 16th, 2019	Storm Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE at all elevations and expected to rise to CONSIDERABLE tomorrow. New snow and wind is on the way and may create fresh wind slabs, up to 6-10″ thick, by sunset in areas seeing 4-6″ of new snow. New snow sluffing off steep slopes should also be expected. Additionally, triggering a [Read More]
Fri, February 15th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE above 2000′. Triggering an isolated wind slab will be possible on steep, leeward terrain features. Triggering a larger slab avalanche 1-3′ thick is becoming more unlikely, but not out of the question for Turnagain Pass. Give cornices a wide berth, and avoid travel under glide cracks. SUMMIT LAKE / JOHNSON [Read More]
Thu, February 14th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE above 2000′. Triggering a small wind slab will be possible on steep, leeward terrain features. There is also a chance of triggering a larger slab avalanche 1-3′ thick on slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Give cornices a wide berth, avoid travel under glide cracks. Several glide cracks have released over [Read More]
Wed, February 13th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE above 2000′. Triggering a small wind slab will be possible on steep, leeward terrain features due to active wind loading. There is also still a chance of triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick on slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Give cornices a wide berth, avoid travel under glide cracks. [Read More]
Tue, February 12th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE above 2000′. Look for signs of recent wind loading. Triggering a small wind slab will be possible on steep, leeward terrain features. There is also still a chance of triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick on slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Give cornices a wide berth, avoid travel under [Read More]
Mon, February 11th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE above 2000′. Look for signs of recent wind loading. Triggering a small wind slab will be possible on steep, leeward terrain features. There is also still a chance of triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick on slopes 35 degrees and steeper. Give cornices a wide berth, avoid travel under [Read More]
Sun, February 10th, 2019	Wind Slabs	Persistent Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE in the Alpine and Treeline zones. Triggering a fresh wind slab 6-12 € thick is possible on steep terrain features. Active wind loading could add stress to a more dangerous problem where triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick remains possible on steep slopes above 2,000′. These slabs can be [Read More]
Sat, February 9th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Cornice	The avalanche danger is MODERATE. Triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick remains possible on steep slopes above 2,000′. These slabs can be triggered remotely from ridgelines and be large enough to bury, injure or kill a person. Identify high consequence terrain and practice safe travel protocols. Give cornices a wide berth, limit travel under [Read More]
Fri, February 8th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wet Loose	The avalanche danger is MODERATE. Triggering a large slab avalanche 2-3′ thick remains possible on steep slopes above 2,000′. These slabs can be triggered remotely from ridgelines and large enough to bury, injure or kill a person. In addition, watch for wet sluffs on steep sunlit slopes. Give cornices a wide berth and limit travel [Read More]
Thu, February 7th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Cornice	The avalanche danger remains a ‘scary’ MODERATE on slopes above 2,000′. Triggering a large unsurvivable slab avalanche 2-3′ thick is possible on steep slopes. This kind of slab can be triggered remotely from a ridge, similar to an avalanche triggered yesterday on Eddies. In addition look for signs of windloading and roller balls on solar [Read More]
Wed, February 6th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger remains a ‘scary’ MODERATE on slopes above 2,000′. A weak layer of buried surface hoar is lurking 2-3′ below the surface and triggering a large and dangerous hard slab avalanche is still possible. In addition look for recently wind-loaded slopes and roller balls on solar aspects. Avoid cornices and glide cracks and [Read More]
Tue, February 5th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger remains a ‘scary’ MODERATE on slopes above 2,000′. A weak layer of buried surface hoar is lurking 2-3′ below the surface and it remains possible to trigger a large and dangerous hard slab avalanche; similar to those triggered last Friday. In addition look for recently wind-loaded slopes, avoid cornices and glide cracks [Read More]
Mon, February 4th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger remains a ‘scary’ MODERATE on slopes above 2,000′. A worriesome weak layer of buried surface hoar is lurking 2-3′ below the surface and it remains possible to trigger a large and dangerous hard slab avalanche; similar to those triggered last Friday. On the surface, there are more obvious avalanche problems associated with [Read More]
Sun, February 3rd, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger is expected to rise to CONSIDERABLE today in areas above treeline receiving new snow and wind. Expect fresh wind slabs to be easy to trigger and relatively shallow, up to a foot thick. The more concerning issue is, newly wind loaded slopes are overloading a weak layer of buried surface hoar 1-3′ [Read More]
Sat, February 2nd, 2019	Persistent Slabs		The avalanche danger remains a ‘scary’ MODERATE on slopes above 2,000′. Large unsurviveable slab avalanches, up to 5′ deep, remain possible to trigger on slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Several tracks may be on a slope before it slides, as was the case yesterday with two large human triggered avalanches. These avalanches can be triggered [Read More]
Fri, February 1st, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger is MODERATE at Treeline and in the Alpine. Human triggered slabs 2-4′ thick are possible above 2,000′ on slopes steeper than 35 degrees. Remote triggering an avalanche is becoming less likely, but not out of the question. Localized winds may have created wind slabs along some upper elevation features and loading patterns [Read More]
Thu, January 31st, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Cornice	Today is one of those days where the likelihood of a human triggered avalanche fits into MODERATE, but practicing the travel advice for CONSIDERABLE danger is more appropriate for our tricky avalanche conditions. Human triggered slabs 2-4′ thick are possible above 2000’on slopes steeper than 35 degrees. It may also be possible to trigger a [Read More]
Wed, January 30th, 2019	Persistent Slabs		The avalanche danger remains CONSIDERABLE on slopes above 2,000′. Human triggered slabs 2-4′ thick are likely on slopes steeper than 35 degrees. These slabs can be remotely triggered from below or along a ridgeline. Triggering a lingering wind slab or large cornice is possible today and has the potential to initiate a larger avalanche below. [Read More]
Tue, January 29th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Wind Slabs	The avalanche danger remains CONSIDERABLE on slopes above 1,500′. Fresh wind slabs and cornice falls, due to strong wind and 6-12″ of new snow overnight, may release naturally along ridgelines and human triggered avalanches will be likely. The new snow and wind loading may also overload and trigger much larger avalanches that break in a [Read More]
Mon, January 28th, 2019	Persistent Slabs		There remains a CONSIDERABLE avalanche danger above treeline throughout Turnagain Pass. Forecasters and observers continue to find a layer of surface hoar buried last week (MLK day) that was responsible for several human-triggered avalanches on Saturday. Given the nature of this problem, avalanches have the potential to be triggered from significant distances away [Read More]
Sun, January 27th, 2019	Persistent Slabs	Cornice	The avalanche danger remains CONSIDERABLE on slopes above 1,500′. Human triggered slab avalanches between 2 to 5 feet thick remain likely; nine avalanches were triggered yesterday. These slabs can be triggered from the bottom, side or on top of a slope while traveling along a ridge. They have the potential to be large, dangerous and [Read More]
Sat, January 26th, 2019	Storm Slabs	Cornice	The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE on slopes above 1,500′. Human triggered slab avalanches between 2 to 5 feet thick are likely due to new snow sitting on a weak foundation. These avalanches could be very large, dangerous and unsurviveable. They also could be triggered from the bottom, side or on top of a slope. Cornices [Read More]
Fri, January 25th, 2019	Storm Slabs	Wet Loose	The avalanche danger is HIGH above 2000′ due to the potential for strong winds to trigger large natural avalanches this morning. As winds decrease and precipitation tappers off this morning triggering a large avalanche in Turnagain Pass will be likely and remote triggered avalanches are possible. In Girdwood and Portage Valley where more snow has [Read More]
Thu, January 24th, 2019	Storm Slabs	Wet Loose	The avalanche danger is HIGH above 1500′ due to strong winds and heavy snow this morning. In Girdwood and Portage Valley storm slabs 2-3+’ could release naturally. In Turnagain Pass where less snow has fallen triggering a storm slab up to 1.5′ deep is likely today on slopes greater than 30 degrees. Active wind loading, [Read More]
Wed, January 23rd, 2019	Storm Slabs		The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE at all elevations today. As strong winds and new snow/rain impact the region triggering a slab avalanche will be likely on slopes steeper than 30 degrees and natural avalanches are possible. Cautious route-finding and conservative decision-making are essential today. Avoid travel under cornices and glide cracks. Pay attention to changing [Read More]