Great comments by Den. See photos below of the before (glide crack stage) and after (avalanche release stage) on Lipps - the same glide avalanche discussed here. It released sometime last weekend (Jan 8-10th).
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Lipps
The staff has been warning about the dangers of “Glide Cracks”. I am very familiar with the Lipps area, and the glide cracks on it. I have no memory of the glide crack releases on Lipps having so much destructive force. They ran much farther than usual, the size of debris is much larger than usual, and the amount of energy is way above usual. Just crossing the debris field was an exercise in humility. I have been watching many glide cracks over the last couple weeks, most in usual spots, but i felt the need to warn others about these results. Den
Forecaster comments: Photo below is from January 7th, 2016. You can see the glide crack below tracks, which are smart to avoid being under the crack. This crack did avalanche 1-3 days later, time is uncertain due to no visibility.
This photo below is hard to see but it shows that the above glide crack indeed avalanched.
SW face of Lipps. Glide released sometime between Jan 8-10.
Forecaster Comments
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