| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Hard Slab | Aspect | North Northeast |
| Elevation | 4400ft | Slope Angle | 37deg |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | 250ft |
| Vertical Run | 800ft |
Avalanche: Hatcher Pass
Location: April Bowl
Lots of fresh, small, wind slab avalanches. Snow was a mix of ice crust and heavy wind blown snow the whole way up. Nice mostly clear skis till the early afternoon when it got cloudy. Around 50-100 people
Avalanche Details
I didn't witness the slide, standing above a blind rollover. But the skier skied over a convexity into the gully on skiers left of April Bowl, I heard a big whumpf, then his partner yelled avalanche, then a few seconds later I saw the skier ski out of the side of the area. Didn't get too close to the crown, worried about hangfire. But I'd guess its about 1 foot-ish deep. He probably skied in a shallow area, beside or on some rocks. The crown line then propagated zigzagging to neighboring rocks, and the debris settled on a bench before the bottom of the bowl, with no powder cloud.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observer Comments
Recent small natural wind slabs everywhere. Heard a few whumpf.
Weather
29 degrees at 10am. Sunny with a few clouds. Light wind. Around 1pm clouds rolled in with higher wind.
Snow surface
Highly variable. Ice crusts everywhere, interspersed with heavy wind blown snow, some hollow wind board. In the main north facing part of April bowl, it was heavy wind blown powder with maybe 6 inches of ski penetration, and no rocks.
Snowpack
No formal tests. Tried to get some cornices to pop, but they wouldn't go.
Google earth of where it was.
Flat light pic from below.