| Trigger | Natural | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | Unknown |
| Elevation | unknown | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | unknown |
| Vertical Run | unknown |
Avalanche: Hatcher Pass
Location: Independence Mine
General observations from the last three days during Alaska Avalanche School Level 1 course.
Several routes covered around the Independence Mine valley area.
Avalanche Details
Multiple small D1 wind slabs observed on Feb 1st due to increased easterly winds the previous night and morning.
Crown heights were on average 10cm deep. Shallow, isolated pockets.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Weather
Cold temps, single digits to teens. Clear skies.
Tuesday-Wednesday calm winds in valley, light to moderate winds on ridgetops.
Thursday Feb 1st moderate to strong winds in valley and ridgetops with active wind loading.
Snow surface
Variable snow surface: powder pockets, wind crust, sastrugi and areas of exposed old rain crust.
Snowpack
Snowpits around the valley showed poor structure, moderate to strong strength and low energy.
Weak layers consisted of widespread buried surface hoar 15-30cm down, mid-pack facets varying from 30-60cm down, basal facets/depth hoar found in thinner areas.
Tests results varied from CTVQ1 to CTN on the surface hoar and ECTP24 to ECTX failing mostly on the mid-pack facet layer.
Typical size of the small D1 isolated wind slabs from Feb 1st