Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Gold Chord- Avalanche

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

After skiing Lost couloir our group of 5 toured up Gold Cord from the usual south approach above the mine with a plan to ski the southwest face in the sun. We observed a natural crown (from 3 days earlier) on the same aspect from opposite valley earlier in the day but planned to asses sensitivity, assuming things had time to consolidate since the storm cycle.

Once on the ridge, a hand pit identified what appeared to be two thin melt-freeze layers approximately 12-14 cm deep, beneath the storm
snow. These layers were sitting on homogenous fist hard facets that ran to the depth of the small pit, approx 50 cm.

These raised some questions in our group, but we ultimately decided ski the face after not being able to propagate anything from the start zone.

The fourth skier on the slope triggered a soft slab approximately 25’ with a roughly 3’ crown, running about 500’. No parties were caught, carried or injured.

Avalanche Details
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Trigger SkierRemote Trigger No
Avalanche Type Soft SlabAspect West Southwest
Elevation 5000ftSlope Angleunknown
Crown DepthunknownWidthunknown
Vertical Rununknown  
Red Flags
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Obvious signs of instability
Recent Avalanches?Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?No
Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Clear, calm

Snow surface

New snow/settled powder

Photos & Video
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