| Trigger | Natural | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | West Southwest |
| Elevation | 2900ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | 250ft |
| Vertical Run | 1000ft |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Lynx Creek
Johnson Pass (N) trailhead into Lynx Creek drainage. Several fresh wind slab avalanches observed.
Avalanche Details
Several shallow wind slabs observed in the Lynx Creek area. These look to be in the 12-18" range on all aspects. The commonality is that these were all quite wide and connected, indicative of a buried surface hoar weak layer. Many were in very complex terrain not accessible by snowmachine though debris was observed to have run quite far in channelled terrain, well below treeline. These likely ran during or toward the tail end of last nights wind event.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observer Comments
Several recent avalanches observed on all aspects. Localized cracking was easy to initiate on steep wind-loaded test slopes.
Weather
Single digits all day from parking lot to 2300'. Clear skies. Intermittent winds 5-10 mph mainly from the WNW.
Snow surface
5-10" soft snow available for wind transport at 2300'.
Snowpack
4 snowpits with mixed results.
Pit #1: 2300'. HS=140cm. NE. Buried surface hoar (BSH) found 30cm below surface. ECTX, ECTP23 on BSH.
Pit #2: 2300'. HS = 250cm. W. No BSH found. ECTX
Pit #3: 1950'. HS = 165cm. E. No BSH found. ECTX
Pit #4: 1750'. HS = 145cm WNW. BSH found 50cm below surface (and below 2 rain crusts). CT 27 on BSH. CT13,14 on rain crust 30cm down.
Cracking and small shallow (fresh) wind slabs were easy to initiate with informal snowmachine slope testing. See photo below.
Very fresh and connected natural wind slab above Lynx creek trail. This avalanche wrapped around the ridge and out of view to lookers right. Debris was channelled thru a gully and looked to be quite deep (>10') as seen lower left corner of image.
Fresh wind slab in steep terrain as seen from Johnson Pass (N) trailhead.
Wind textured terrain in the Lynx Creek zone. East facing slope.
Easy to trigger wind slab on a small but steep test slope.
We found this reactive layer of buried surface hoar in 2/4 snow pits today. Likely weak layer for today's wind slab avalanche cycle on the southern end of the advisory area.
Snow devil!