Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Glacier Creek

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Toured to the Snowbird Hut via the standard route through Glacier Pass. Overall the visibility was poor, the travel was slow, and the snow was deep.

Avalanche Details
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Trigger NaturalRemote Trigger Unknown
Avalanche Type Dry Loose SnowAspect Unknown
ElevationunknownSlope Angleunknown
Crown DepthunknownWidthunknown
Vertical Rununknown  
Avalanche Details

When traveling back to the car on 2/12, we noticed two dry-loose avalanches had released from the Didilkama ridgeline. One of these avalanches reached the bottom of Glacier Creek valley and covered up our skin track from the day before.

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

(2/11) While ascending Glacier Pass we heard a few whumphs.

(2/12) While exiting on Glacier Pass, we again heard a whumph. We noticed the snow surface cracking around our skis, but no shooting cracks were observed. Dry loose avalanches observed off of Didilkama ridgeline. While descending the last pitch from Glacier Creek to the Reed Lakes Trail (SE aspect), ski cuts on small convex features initiated soft slabs, approximately 10 inches deep.

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

Light to moderate, low-density snow falling throughout 2/11 and 2/12. Overall calm winds, but transporting snow. Temperature at the Snowbird hut around 8am on 2/12 was approximately 10 degrees F, increasing to 15 degrees by 10am.

Snowpack

Informal hand pits showed poor structure within the snowpack on the northside of Glacier Pass. Approximately 10 inches of low density snow sat on a thin crust, followed by more low density snow and another crust layer. No formal stability tests were conducted. These crust layers were not evident in the snowpack closer towards Reed Lakes Trail.

Photos & Video
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