Observation: Portage / Placer

Location: Portage Valley - Skookum Glacier

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Quick trip up to the Skookum glacier to check out the human triggered avalanches from the past several days along with assessing how the new snow is bonding, considering this zone received the most snow from the March 19 storm (2-3′).

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

None

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

Sunny, light Westerly winds, temperatures warming from single digits to the 30's at sea level.

Snow surface

Soft settled powder composed the top 2' outside of the snowmachine tracks.

Snowpack

We dug two pits and found 2 feet of settled storm snow over old faceted snow - good bonding, stable snow.

Pit 1: 1,400' North facing, 35 degree slope near a fracture line from March 20. No results. 4Finger hardness on bottom of slab over 4Finger minus hard facets.

Pit 2: 2,400' on glacier, West facing 10 degree slope. No results. 1 Finger hardness on bottom of slab over 4 finger plus hardness in facets below.

Essentially there is just a slight hardness change between the storm snow and the old faceted snow. No crusts found where we dug.

Photos & Video
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