| Trigger | Unknown | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | West |
| Elevation | 2400ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 6in | Width | 50ft |
| Vertical Run | 100ft |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Lipps
We climbed to about 2400′, digging pits on a NW aspect at 1900′ and a SW aspect at 2200′. We decided to turn around at the bottom of the steep part of the climb since clouds were moving in, winds were picking up, and the surface was freshly wind loaded.
Avalanche Details
There was debris from a recent wind slab that pulled out below a steep, rocky rollover. The avalanche was shallow, and debris would not have been enough to bury a person.
Weather
Cloudy skies all day, with the cloud level dropping in the afternoon. Winds were calm until about 2:00, when they picked up to around 15 mph out of the southeast. There was some light snow as the winds picked up, but not enough for any accumulation while we were out.
Snow surface
5-6" snow from this weekend sitting on top of the thin 12/7 crust to 1300', or on top of a mixture of soft snow and old wind slabs between 1300'-2400' We started seeing fresh wind loading as soon as we got above the alder line (~1300').
Snowpack
The thin crust from 12/7 was present buried about 6" deep up to around 1300'. We never got above the 12/1 crust- which is really a sandwich of crusts and facets in this area, buried 1-1.5' deep. In our first set of pits (NW aspect, 1900'), we got mixed test results in the upper part of the crust/facet sandwich, with an ECTP13 and two ECTN22's (see snowpit profile). The same layer was present, but not reactive in any of our tests in our second set of pits (SW aspect, 2200'). This is similar to the results Aleph found yesterday on Petes North.
Lipps. The stripe across the middle of the pit wall is a crust/facet sandwich that was giving mixed results in stability tests in our pits. Photo: Brooke Edwards. 12.21.2020
Lipps. Recent small wind slab avalanche. 12.21.2020
View from our second set of pits, with the north-facing terrain off of Petes North in the background. 12.21.2020
Lipps Snowpit profile. 12.21.2020