At 3:30pm below 1500' - snow was wet and becoming very punchy, and could push and entrain wet snow (top 8") on small steep test slope.
New glide release on Pete's South. See photo
Two recent glide release on Seattle Ridge. See photos
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Magnum West Face 3000'
Ascended NW shoulder to 3000′. Found good stability and firm surface conditions above 2000′ with 2″ of new snow. No red flags, but snow was being transported in the alpine on leeward aspects. At 3:30pm- not enough accumulation on Magnum to be a concern.
On the North side of the Turnagain Pass there was moderate rainfall, North of Tincan. Not much rain observed on South end of Pass.
Observer Comments
Weather
Variable weather conditions: Visibility was fair to good with scattered snow/rain showers and patches of blue skies
Temps: 1000'= high 30F's
Winds: NE 15-30mph
Rain/snow line ~1800, Total snow accumulation ~2cm, on leeward aspect of ridge ~5cm
Snow surface
1000' ~ at 1pm boot pen=knee deep, at 3:30pm boot pen=thigh high
1500' ~at 1:30pm boot pen=boot deep
1800' -3000': boot pen=2" deep w/ ~2cm of new snow at 3:30pm
Snowpack
We focussed on surface conditions for our primary concerns. The snow below 1800' did not have a good re-freeze overnight is most suspect for wet loose avalanches. In the Alpine new snow accumulations and blowing snow were loading leeward aspects on a firm melt/freeze crust. At 3:30pm only 5cm of new snow was observed on leeward aspects at 3000'.
Activity has slowed down since April 2, but there are still a lot of cracks that could release at any moment. This glide release happened after April 4th, as per photo evidence in Aleph's observation.
New glide release on Pete's South (middle one is new.) Photo by Tim Glassett
Crust at 1500' was mostly supportable at 1:30pm as seen in this photo, but became very soft and punchy w/ skis on by 3:30pm
Variable weather conditions today with periods of snow, blowing snow, and no vis.
Very forgiving boot packing at 3000' on Magnum's NW shoulder
One new glide release on South end of Seattle Ridge. Unknown when it releases, some time between April 1 and April 6.
RWIS web cam is still not available on the web. Thanks DOT for sending us a screen shot of the continuous and widening glide on Repeat Offender.