Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Marmot Gullys 1 and 2, Government Peak, and above Archangel trail

Date:

March 19, 2018 7:31pm

Observer:

Allie Barker Professional

Route & General Observations

Road observations and close up look with binos at Natural avalanches on Marmot that crossed the road near Archangel. Road is closed until clearing can occur, likely Wednesday.

Avalanche Details

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Trigger	Natural	Remote Trigger	0
Avalanche Type	Soft Slab	Aspect	South Southwest
Elevation	4000ft	Slope Angle	unknown
Crown Depth	unknown	Width	unknown
Vertical Run	unknown

Avalanche Details

Two natural avalanches reported around 8:30 am 3/19 that crossed road near Archangel off of Marmot. Debris estimated at 4-6' deep and 100' wide for both avalanches.
Likely new storm slabs on old melt freeze crusts overloaded old persistent slab. TBD
N-SS-R3D3-I/O (x2) Marmot avys S/SW 4000'
N-SS-R2D2.5-I/O Govt peak SW aspect and above Archangel trail SE/E aspect

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

Natural avalanches

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

12" of new snow, rapid load with 2"/hour for 4 hours early morning. Warm temps throughout storm. Winds picking up ENE 10-14 mph G 25-30 mph at 3505'. Winds SSE 8-12 mph G 15-20 mph at 4500'.
Temps in the mid 20's F at 3505 and low-20's F at 4500' most of the day.

Photos & Video

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