No signs of instability observed:
-NO recent avalanches.
-NO whumphing, collapsing or shooting cracks.
Observation: Hatcher Pass
Location: Archangel Valley/Pinnacle North
Another day of partial sun, good stability and excellent skiing and riding conditions hanging in there in Hatcher Pass. Despite only having a trace to 1″ in the last 7 days and 3-4″ of snow 10 days ago, there is still boot top powder skiing and riding, if you know where to look. We headed out on snowmachines up Archangel Road and assessed some terrain on the northeast side of the Pinnacle.
Observer Comments
Weather
Temperatures were in the low 20s to start our tour at 1030 and by 1500 in the Independence Mine parking lot, it was 31°. Calm winds today with clouds and partial sun throughout the day.
Snow surface
The forecasting area has only received trace to 1" of new snow in the last 7 days and 3-4" 10 days back. Despite this, there is still boot to knee deep powder skiing on polar aspects. We were able to find buried old and deteriorating wind slab and crusts on our north facing ski but these appeared in isolated terrain, intermittent and were not interacting with snow above. Surface snow remained cool and below freezing out of the sun.
Snowpack
The snowpack is increasingly stable. On polar aspects, we found mostly facets all the way to ground level. On some pole/boot tests, foot penetration was waist deep. We did not generate any dry loose sluffing on our ski descent of note. We did see some large chunks of cornice debris (several days to a week old, see photo) in the apron of one of the couloirs. It is unclear if this was a natural cornice release or intentionally released.
3.15 Lots of people taking advantage of good stability as seen here in Martin Mine and all around Hatcher Pass.
3.15 Dry loose on Microdot , likely several days old S 4800'
3.15 Sluffs from several days to a week old up Archangel. We didn't observe anything recent today.
3.15 Cornice debris at the base of the Pinnacle on the Archangel side is significantly larger than a labrador!
3.15 Minimal thin cracking observed in isolated locations near ridgetop, Archangel Valley 5000'
3.15 Small and deteriorating wind slabs found in isolated locations at upper elevation up Archangel Valley 5000'