Observation: Seward

Location: Carter Lake

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

We rode into Carter to get the CNFAC crew out for the day and take a look at a new zone for the season. We saw a lot of recent natural avalanches driving through Summit that looked a bit larger than what we saw in Girdwood and Turnagain during recent storms. We also noticed a fresh looking glide avalanche on the south side of Manitoba driving north at the end of the day.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Low valley clouds this morning, but we got up above the clouds and enjoyed sunny, calm weather.

Snow surface

Plenty of soft snow on the surface, with a fresh layer of surface hoar right on top. 8" of new from the previous night.

Snowpack

Total snowpack depth at 1,500' was around 5'.
We found the same questionable structure that we've been seeing in most of our snowpits lately, with a crust buried about 3 feet deep. We did not get anything to fail in stability tests, but the column did pop out with some energy with very little force on a shovel shear.

Photos & Video
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