| Trigger | Natural | Remote Trigger | No |
| Avalanche Type | Wet Slab | Aspect | Northwest |
| Elevation | 1300ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 6ft | Width | 200ft |
| Vertical Run | 1000ft |
Avalanche: Portage / Placer
Location: Portage Valley
We toured up to treeline in Portage on Sunday, stopping to dig one pit on a north aspect at around 1400′. The snowpack was moist with a few saturated layers in the upper 5′. Rain picked up Sunday afternoon, and by Monday morning there was a large wet slab avalanche just below the Explorer glacier, about a mile away from where we had dug our pit.
Weather
1-1.5" rain up to 1500-2000' elevation in 24 hours in the Portage Valley, starting Sunday afternoon and continuing into Monday. It has been 5 days without a solid refreeze at mid and lower elevations now.
Snow surface
There was a weak refreeze Saturday night, but surfaces were softening quickly by late Sunday morning on all aspects up to our high point of 1400’.
Snowpack
The snowpack is undergoing a transition from a cold and dry snowpack to a warm springtime snowpack. The snow in the upper 5’ of the snowpack is moist to wet, with multiple layers of saturated snow observed in the upper 3’.
Crown of a natural avalanche below the Explorer Glacier. The deep part of the crown was probably around 6' deep. 04.22.2024
Debris from a smaller avalanche just west of Explorer. 04.22.2024
Snowpit on a N aspect at 1400' elevation, from around noon on Sunday. 04.21.2024
Detailed snowpack info from our snowpit. 04.21.2024