Avalanche: Chugach State Park

Location: Harp

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Broke trail up valley floor to low point in ridge just North of Harp summit. Ski pole probing here and there revealed approx 15-18” ? loose dry powder on top of thinner hard base snow. Rarely could probe to ground or find a rock. Very minimal wind effect near ridge line. Mild ESE breeze on first skin up, near ridge with minimal transport. No wind on the next 2 laps. Primo skiing overall, but 3 skiers reported rock strikes (skis penetrating on turns). Skied both NW facing aspect and south facing aspect.

Avalanche Details
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Trigger SkierRemote Trigger No
Avalanche Type Dry Loose SnowAspect South
ElevationunknownSlope Angleunknown
Crown DepthunknownWidthunknown
Vertical Rununknown  
Avalanche Details

See pics and map.
Didn’t directly observe it occur, but (separate party) skier-triggered D1 R1 loose avalanche in thinner snowpack on south-facing aspect near rock tower (see pic) that occurred some time while we were skinning up to a different aspect. Avalanche travelled to skin track. Didn’t inspect real closely, but at least part of bed surface was clearly the ground. 12” deep slide? We made our own runs later near this area which caused shooting cracks. No red flags on northwest-facing slope in same drainage.

Events of the day

A Brown bear was bulldozing his way down a ridge as fast as it could into the 2nd bowl to the NNW of Harp proper!

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)?No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?Yes
Observer Comments

Signs of instability in thinner snow-pack on south-facing aspect, but appeared to be a manageable risk, with mostly loose snow.

Photos & Video
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