| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | Yes |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | East Southeast |
| Elevation | 3600ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 18in | Width | 50ft |
| Vertical Run | 300ft |
Avalanche: Hatcher Pass
Location: Lower Marmot
Post storm tour (after the road re-opened Wednesday at noon) to observe recent avalanches and instabilities in the snowpack. Observed 5 to 6 significant COLLAPSES up to 2 feet deep and CRACKING up to 50′ wide during our tour on a SW aspect. We turned around half way up Marmot due to red flags and low visibility.
Recent storm slab, wind slab, persistent slab and dry loose avalanches from 3/30 on SE Marmot gully 2, NE Face of Government, and South Idaho Peak in addition to other small avalanches observed today.
Avalanche Details
Remotely triggered persistent slab on a ESE aspect from 150 feet away. The slab failed on buried facets on top of the sun crust. This party also reported a large collapse today on their tour.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observer Comments
Significant CRACKING up to 50' wide and COLLAPSING 2 feet deep on the buried facets sitting on the crust layer on our tour today between 3000-3600' on a SW aspect.
We observed 5 to 6 large collapses today.
Recent wind slab, storm slab, persistent slab, and dry loose avalanches that happened mid to end of storm 3/29. Another party reported remotely triggering a persistent slab on a ESE aspect at approx 3600' from 150 feet away. More details in "Avalanche Details"
Weather
6-10" of new snow on 3/29 with moderate to strong gusts SSW for 12 hours.
Temps:
12 deg. F at 1200 @ 4500'
22 deg. F at 1200 @ 3550'
Snow surface
New snow and PP including stellars, graupel, and ice pellets. 6-10" of new snow is cohesive and acts like a slab in specific locations. We observed 1 to 2 new thin breakable crusts within the new storm snow today with up to 10 cm of graupel on either side of the crust. This brings the crust count up to 7 in the current snowpack in specific locations.
Snowpack
see pit
Location of remote trigger in relationship to avalanche on ESE aspect (picture below)
Remotely triggered persistent slab ESE 3600' 3/31
Depth hoar at the bottom of the pack
Shooting cracks today up to 50 feet wide
Crusts, crusts, and more crusts!
Lower Marmot-31-Mar