Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Murphy's Bench (Lower Gold Chord Lake) and upper IM bowl

Date:

January 26, 2022 6:49pm

Observer:

Barker Kayes Forecaster

Route & General Observations

Toured up IM bowl to Murphys bench and the Nosehairs (near Gold Chord Lake) to investigate recent avalanches from 1/25.

Avalanche Details

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Trigger	Natural	Remote Trigger	No
Avalanche Type	Soft Slab	Aspect	Southwest
Elevation	3900ft	Slope Angle	40deg
Crown Depth	3ft	Width	200ft
Vertical Run	400ft

Avalanche Details

All avalanches occurred on 1/25.
We did a crown profile on Murphy Bench natural avalanche, SW 3900'. This avalanche failed on facets on top of the Dec26 rain crust, and also stepped down into the old Oct/Nov facets. Avalanche was approximately 200' wide x 400' long x 32" deep (thickest part of the crown).

Other avalanches observed today:

4068' NE aspect 3200'- Human triggered
Valley of Sin, N,NE aspect 4000'- Naturals
Martin Mine, NE,SE aspect 4000'- Naturals
Nosehairs, SE/S aspects 4400'/4600'- approx 1000-1500' wide x 800' long x 2-3 ft deep
Pinnacle Valley, W/SW 4400'/5000', naturals

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)?	No

Observer Comments

Observed recent avalanches from 1/25 on N,NE,SE,S,SW aspects. More details in "Avalanche Details"

No cracking, collapsing, or whumping observed today on our tour.

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

1/25 8-9" of new snow
1/24 strong winds gusting SE 30-46mph

Snow surface

1/25 8-9" New snow on top of graupel (10-14" deep) with multiple wind slabs from the past week on top of firm Dec 26 rain crust.

Snowpack

Crown profile on Murphy Bench avalanche
40 degrees. 240 degree aspect. Crown height 35-80cm. Graupel at 35cm
Avalanche failed on facets sitting on Dec 26 rain crust and also stepped down to old weak facets at the bottom of the snowpack in a few isolated locations. (Avalanche failed towards the end of the storm on 1/25 and has 2" of new snow on bed surface)
pst 45/100 end

Photos & Video

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