Observation: Hatcher Pass

On Sunday, 2/14/2016, we toured up the Independence Mine Valley, past the Rock Garden, under the Pinnacle, up to Fairangel. Then we skied a lap in Fairangel (attached) before retracing our steps back to the Independence Mine parking lot.

Upon reaching the pass above the Pinnacle Valley towards Fairangel, surface conditions deteriorated from dust on crust to exposed rain crust and hard slab. Snow conditions at the top of Fairangel were so bad that we downclimbed a bit. This was a trying experience. Once well within the chute, and below the exposed raincrust we dug a pit which is described below.

Snow conditions in Fairangel were variable, but always bad. They included rain crust, hard slab, wind pockets, and breakable crust. The wind pockets would have been a major problem if they had been continuous. Notably, just below the upper chute, and into the apron, a ski cut produced a very noticeable settlement and shooting crack in a wind pillow. It did not move, but this is exactly where Billy Finley triggered a slide two years ago.

Climbing out of Fairangel we observed shooting cracks, failure of small wind pockets, breaking of switchbacks and other red flags of wind deposited instability. These pockets were spatially discontinuous.

Overall, these are the worst snow conditions I have skied in a couple of years.