| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observation: Girdwood
Location: Notch Mountain
Toured up to about 2500′ on Notch Mountain. Skied the trees on the N aspect.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
We triggered a large collapse while descending.
Weather
Temperatures felt pretty cold up high, especially when a light wind picked up. Alyeska and surrounding peaks were getting a lot of E wind which was loading the west aspects. Crow Pass/Eagle Glacier area peaks did not seems to have as much wind transport.
Snow surface
Some small surface hoar on the surface with soft faceted snow underneath. Snow cover in the forest was still relatively thin.
Snowpack
We could feel the Thanksgiving melt freeze crust about 50 cm down with ski pole tests from 1300' - 2500'. In the pit we dug at 2100' we found a weak layer (5 cm thick) of facets above a strong melt freeze crust (15 cm). This layer propagated at ECT 31, which is beyond the normal scope of the test when you just hit it hard. It seems like this layer could be hard to initiate an avalanche on but if you did it has the potential to create a large avalanche. Since we triggered a collapse on this layer skiing about 100 m away from where we dug that pit, it is clear that it is possible for a skier to initiate an avalanche on this weak layer.
Lots of wind loading on the Alyeska upper ridgeline
Some small surface hoar on the surface around in the treeline elevations.
Still fairly low coverage at lower elevations on the approach.
Small wind slab along Notch Mountain ridge at 2600'
Layer of weak facets about 50 cm down above a thick melt freeze crust.