Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Marmot and Eldorado

Date:
Observer:
Andrew Dennis
Route & General Observations

Toured Marmot and Skyscraper Peak. Went up BPC (boot pack couloir) in Rae Wallace. Firm booting conditions with evidence of cornice fall throughout couloir (see 1/15/2020 posted observation).

Marmot: 4200ft 40+ degree slope, SSW aspect: Skier triggered D1.5 sluff, L-ASu-R2-D1.5

Skyscraper Peak: 4600ft, 35+/- degree slope, South aspect. Skier triggered small hard slab avalanche, evidence of recent loading, HS-ASu-R1-D1

Avalanche Details
If this is an avalanche observation, click yes below and fill in the form as best as you can. If people were involved, please provide details.
Trigger UnknownRemote Trigger Unknown
Avalanche Type UnknownAspect Unknown
ElevationunknownSlope Angleunknown
Crown DepthunknownWidthunknown
Vertical Rununknown  
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)?Yes
Observer Comments

Wide spread dry loose activity, evidence of recent wind transport.

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

Jan 27th 10:00 am: 9.2F East wind 8mph gusting to 13mph

Jan 27th 1:00 pm 10.2F East wind 11mph gusting to 24mph

No new snow. Some flagging off of top of Marmot but no widespread transport of snow noted at the time of our tour (1000am to 300pm). Flat light conditions prevaled for second half of tour.

Snow surface

The Hatcher Pass Experience: square pow, wind board, breakable crust, and scoured areas. Square powder skiing in wind sheltered "alluvial fan" areas.

Snowpack

No formal snow pits were performed.

Photos & Video
Please upload photos below. Maximum of 5 megabytes per image. Click here for help on resizing images. If you are having trouble uploading please email images separately to staff.

small wind slab on Skyscraper peak  

sluff before picture on W Face of Marmot  

sluff after picture on W Face of Marmot (note debris)