Avalanche: Turnagain

We took the standard route up Eddie’s and stopped for a bite at the shoulder below the headwall. There were obvious signs of wind effect along the way, though those areas were visibly obvious and seemed fairly easily managed. Otherwise we saw no shooting cracks, whompfing, hollow sounds, or evidence of avalanches in the surrounding areas. Dug a pit (2500’, SW aspect, 20°) and our findings confirmed the forecast: a 4F over 1F layer at 35-40cm from the surface failed easily in my shear test (Q1, sudden planar, 2mm fern-like stellar dendrites). Another party on the knob above us stopped to dig a pit of their own, and upon taking two steps out of their skis, remote-triggered the small slide on Eddie’s Headwall. The crown appeared to range in size from 1-4’, and I’d estimate the path to be perhaps 150’ long and about 180’ wide. Their remote-trigger combined with my sheer results brought an end to our analysis and led to a conservative retreat by both parties.