Observation: Hatcher Pass

Location: Government/Hatch Peak area

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

We (one yank and four Canadians) toured across from Fishhook parking lot toward Government and Hatch Peak.

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

None. The clear skies overnight seemed freeze things up well. We didn't see any signs of instability even during our last run at 4pm.

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

Calm, clear and warm. I love April!

Snow surface

Smooth powder, avalanche debris, avalanche scour, melt-freeze crust, early corn.

Snowpack

Non-solar aspects were smooth nice powder over facets about 40cm down. Upside down and punchy in places. The facet layer never whoomphed, but it was creepy enough that we didn't ski powder over 30 degrees. We skied one solar aspect and found great skiing on sun-softened sastrugi. We skied a long steep shady aspect that had avalanched probably on Sunday, but then filled in some and faceted some from clear skies. The cornice at the top broke off on a 5mm surface hoar layer. Then we lapped the low angle happy hippy powder near the parking lot Mike Wiegele Heli Ski style.