Observation: Hatcher Pass

Location: Independence Mine, Microdot

Date:

January 22, 2022 2:15pm

Observer:

Angie and Shane Cronin

Route & General Observations

Toured up to where microdot starts to get steep from independence mine parking lot. Followed a skin track from another guy who was doing laps. One whumpf that was very loud on the skin up. Probably about eight inches of fresh snow plus what else fell since 1/15. We dug a pit at 3700 and got mixed results. Failure on the new snow that fell last weekend. Low visibility and wet snow falling.

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)?	No

Observer Comments

Recent avalanches off steeper slopes of marmot and skyscraper. Some roller balls. One whumpf but didn’t see any shooting cracks.

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

27 degrees and poor visibility
Wet snow coming down
Slight breeze coming from NE

Snow surface

Medium heavy/wet snow. Seemed like 8 inches new since last weekend.

Snowpack

Dug a pit at about 3700.

CT15 Q2 about 15 cm down from the top
ECTN15 about 15 cm down from the top

Shovel shear did break below the 12/26 raincrust

Pit had minimal slope and was SE facing in general.