Observation: Turnagain

Location: Corn Biscuit

Date:

March 21, 2017 12:00pm

Observer:

Peter Wadsworth

Route & General Observations

Broke trail up Corn Biscuit. Dug 2 pits.
Skied a WSW from 3,200 feet, lower third turns more SW and had light breakable suncrust.
Lap 2 planned to ski another WSW line from 3,500 feet, but a big woompf and crack turned me around. Skied a North line from 3,400 feet instead, sloughed very easily and some sloughs ran full line.

Red Flags

Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.

Obvious signs of instability

Recent Avalanches?	Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?	Yes
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?	Yes

Observer Comments

Some minor woompfing in sastrugi'd zones above 3,000ft. One scary woompf with shooting crack at 3,400 ft, turned me around.
Many point releases and slab crowns visible on Magnum and Lipps, probably from Sunday afternoon, but maybe Monday too.

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

clear and calm. Morning inversion clouds at ~1,000ft in 20 Mile, Placer, and Turnagain. Very cold in shadows, very warm in sun.

Snow surface

Skin track penetration was ankle to shin deep while breaking trail. Settled loose snow up to ~2,500 feet.
Above 2,600 feet ridgelines showed wind scour. I noticed surface hoar above 3,200 feet, but it may have been lower too.

Snowpack

Pit #1 - just off skin track where it starts to get steep
2200ft elevation, NW (300deg) aspect, 37deg slope
HS 160cm
Fist hard new snow down to 125cm~ish
Fist older snow (facets?) down to 110cm
1 finger hard slab down to 60cm
rotten depth "stuff" from 20cm to 0cm

CT 1 20cm down in new snow, Q2 sheer within new snow, slid right off. Continued to 30++ with no more reaction
ECTN 1 20 cm, same result as CT
ECTN 30++ (boot heel kick) at 50cm down Fist-1Finger transition

Pit #2, 2 turns into WSW (260deg) ski line, 3200 feet, 32deg slope
HS +340cm couldn't reach bottom
depth of pit 110cm
Fist hard new snow to 70cm
1 finger hard slab to 50cm
Pencil hard to 10cm
Knife hard to 0cm
Shovel tilt test - new snow slid off slowly with 2 light taps
CT 2 at 40cm down, Q2, new snow slid off and fell apart
ECTN 2 at 40cm down, same result as CT
ECTX even with 30++ (kicks)

Skied WSW line from 3200 feet, lower 1/3 turns a little more to SW and has light breakable suncrust
Lap 2 Skied a North line from 3,400 feet. lots of easy sloughs, some ran full path.

Photos & Video

Please upload photos below. Maximum of 5 megabytes per image. Click here for help on resizing images. If you are having trouble uploading please email images separately to staff.