| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | Northwest |
| Elevation | 2000ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 10in | Width | 25ft |
| Vertical Run | unknown |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Lipps
Skinned up through the forest to tree line and up to the base of the steep rocky terrain on the NW aspect of Lipps at 2400′. We saw widespread snow transport from strong winds at upper elevations. We triggered a small avalanche on a steep wind loaded roll near treeline, about 10″ deep. These features were getting actively cross loaded. The slab consisted of fairly low density new snow with the bed surface at the old snow interface.
Avalanche Details
We triggered a small avalanche on a steep wind loaded roll near treeline, about 10" deep. These features were getting actively cross loaded. The slab consisted of fairly low density new snow with the bed surface at the old snow interface.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observer Comments
At treeline and above there was active wind loading that was forming touchy wind slabs on steep terrain features. We triggered a small avalanche about 10" deep on the way down. We also saw shooting cracks on wind loaded features while skinning up.
Weather
Clear skies and very cold temperatures. The car read -22 F at the trail head but it felt a little warmer up high, maybe -10 to 0 F. Winds were calm to light at lower elevations but picked up to about 5-10 mph near treeline and in exposed areas.
Snow surface
A very small layer of surface hoar (1-2 mm) was on the surface up to 1500'. Otherwise we found very light new snow on the surface about 8-10" deep. At upper elevations there were more wind affected areas with less soft snow on the surface.
Snowpack
We did not stop to dig a formal pit. We mostly focused on staying warm and travelling across small test slopes to check how well the new snow was bonding to the old snow surface. In sheltered areas the new snow did not really show signs of poor bonding with the old snow surface, but in wind loaded areas the new snow was more cohesive and producing shooting cracks and the small avalanche mentioned above.
Chilly temps at the car!
Lots of wind transport at higher elevations.
Wind affected snow across the valley on Peak 4940'
Impressive anti-tracks on the SW face of Cornbiscuit.
Snow surface texture above treeline.
Small skier triggered avalanche on a steep wind loaded roll about 10" deep.
We need more snow to cover up the debris in the Seattle ridge uptrack!
We saw surface hoar around 1500' and below.