| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Pete's North
Pete’s N uptrack to treeline.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
We saw some recent crowns along the upper ridgeline of Pete's N around 2700'. They looked like small wind slabs that had released directly under the cornice. Since they were partially filled in by the snow and active wind loading it is hard to know exactly how old they are. We also had some shooting cracks on wind loaded features near treeline.
Weather
Obscured skies with visibility to just above treeline on most of the ridgelines. Moderate rain was falling on the northern end of the pass from Eddies down to Turnagain arm. Light to moderate snowfall started around 12pm on Pete's. Winds were light to moderate along our route but were strong enough to be actively transporting snow at treeline.
Snow surface
Wet snow with about 5-15 cm of saturated snow on top of 10-15 cm of moist snow. The snow surface switched to being dry at the surface at about 1700'. Below there the layer of wet snow got progressively thicker with decreasing elevation.
Snowpack
We dug pits at 2000' on a W facing aspect and 2200' on a NW facing aspect. No propagation in our instability tests. Overall, the upper meter of the snowpack was pretty right side up. The faceted layer on top of the New Years crust was buried 60 cm, 1F hardness, and the grains were small and looked like they were rounding under the scope.
Low visibility above treeline today, with active wind loading along the ridgelines and moderate snowfall starting in the afternoon.
Wet snow down low made for tricky skiing on the way out, especially combined with the alders still being mostly upright.