Observation: Seward

Location: Lost Lake via Snug Harbor

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

We rode to Lost Lake from Snug Harbor today to check out snowfall storm totals and snowpack info in the Lost Lake area. It was a beautiful sunny day with calm wind. We dug two snowpits, one closer to Snug Harbor near V-Max hill and one just above Lost Lake. We did not get any concerning results in either pit and both were 8.5’ deep. We saw a few small new snow slab avalanches that were small and likely from the recent storm that occurred this last week. Going forward our concern will be new snow avalanches from the next storm or wind event.

Avalanche Details
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Avalanche Details

We observed several recent small slab avalanches that looked to be from the storm that occurred this week. These avalanches were on several different aspects in the 3,000-4,000' elevation range.

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

We observed several recent small slab avalanches that looked to be from the storm that occurred this week. These avalanches were on several different aspects in the 3,000-4,000' elevation range.

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

It was a beautiful day out there. It was sunny with temperatures in the 20’s, calm wind, and just a few clouds.

Snow surface

There was about 6” of soft snow on top of a firm surface at the parking lot. There was over 1’ of soft snow on the surface near V-Max hill with 1mm surface hoar on the top and Lost Lake had about 8” above a very firm wind layer (no surface hoar observed here). There were many surfaces along our route today that had some type of wind effect, but there were also plenty of surfaces that were fresh snow and some drifted locations that were quite deep.

Snowpack

We dug two snowpits today. The first was just east of V-Max hill at 2,400’. The total snowpack in both pit locations was 8.5’ (260cm)! Neither pit had concerning test results. The V-Max results were as follows: CT9 down 4cm, CT11 down 10cm, CT17 down 35cm on a hardness change, ECTN9 down 4cm, ECTN11 down 10cm, and ECTN16 down 35cm. These results were within the new snow except the ones 35cm down, which was on a hardness change. The Lost Lake snowpit had the following results: CT12 down 13cm, ECTN11 down 13cm and ECTN29 down 20cm on the interface between the new snow and the wind layer.

Photos & Video
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