Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Microdot/Elderado Bowl/Next to Independance Mine

Date:

January 13, 2020 4:43pm

Observer:

Heather Thamm (Alaska Avalanche School L1)

Route & General Observations

Ascended SW aspect of Microdot to 4000′

Avalanche Details

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Trigger	Natural	Avalanche Type	Dry Loose Snow
Aspect	East Southeast	Elevation	unknown
Slope Angle	40deg	Crown Depth	unknown
Width	15ft	Vertical Run	80ft

Avalanche Details

Numerous D1 Dry loose avalanches on steep East to SE aspects

Red Flags

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Obvious signs of instability

Recent Avalanches?	Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?	No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?	No

Observer Comments

Small N dry loose

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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Weather

No new snow
Broken to overcast
Winds calm
Temps 5F - 10F

Snow surface

10cm low density new snow from overnight at 3400'
15cm at 4000'

Snowpack

We dug pits on: Eldorado Bowl at 3700' on NE w HS=165cm, behind Independence Mine 3480' on East aspect and Microdot at 3990' on a SW aspect with an HS=185cm.

All pits revealed a right side up snowpack with overall good stability with the exception of weak surface snow. Surface snow consisted of 10-15cm of new snow on top of 20cm low density old snow. None of the tests had propagation.

Location

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