Observation: Hatcher Pass

Location: Lane Glacier / Didikama

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Skied 3 couloirs (WSW, ESE, and NNE aspects) and the Lane Glacier itself (N aspect) between noon and 4pm.
Any aspect with an “S” in it, even a bit, was at risk for wet slides, or just rotten snow at best, we got off those slopes quickly. There was some rock fall too happening in the bright sun. There was a good freeze overnight from the 13th, but it penetrated less than 1ft into the snowpack. Boot packing would sometimes punch all the way through to wet rotten snow underneath.
Higher elevation “N” facing and/or very shaded couloirs still had cold powder in them, very good skiing. The Lane Glacier itself had a fresh inch of snow on it from the night before and very light flurries happened throughout the day, even with very minimal clouds.
Archangel road will not last long with this heat and sun, the snowbanks have dropped *several feet* along the road in the past 4 days.

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)?No
Observer Comments

natural wet slides on anything with even a *bit* of southerly aspect. Many slides going to dirt.

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

Generally bright sun, very warm, and calm, but there was a micro cloud system over the Lane Glacier area itself that produced periods of snow flurries throughout the day.

Snow surface

Everything from cold powder in tight northern facing couloirs, to leg swallowing rotten mush on steeper southerly slopes down low. The Lane Glacier received 0.5-1.0 inches of fresh snow overnight from 5000ft up to 5900ft. From 3700ft up to 4700ft there was fresh dusting of graupel and large surface hoar that made skinning really tricky on the frozen corn snow.

Snowpack

no pits dug, too variable to briefly describe. Snow type was entirely aspect and shade dependent.