| Trigger | Natural | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Unknown | Aspect | Southwest |
| Elevation | 3500ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 12in | Width | 40ft |
| Vertical Run | 1000ft |
Avalanche: Girdwood
Location: Raggedtop
Avalanche Details
1 small avalanche off the southwest aspect of Goat mountain with crown at about 3500'. The avalanche ran about 1000' vertical. The sun was peaking out intermittently and moderate north wind was actively loading the slope.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Weather
Broken skies with intermittent ridge top views
10°F
Moderate north winds in Alpine elevations
Snow surface
Powder
Ski/Boot pen.: 30cm/50cm
Snowpack
Raggedtop
We dug three testpits all near 2500' on north, east, and south aspects
HS ranged from 135cm to 165cm
January facets were ↓ 80cm and nonreactive while conducting a PST in one testpit and ECT's in all three testpits.
We found a layer of leap day buried surface hoar (2-5mm) ↓25cm in the wind protected south facing testpit, but not in the east or north facing testpits. The leap day BSH was surrounded above and below in Fist hardness decomposing fragments.
Leap day Buried surface hoar found in wind protected area ↓25cm at 2500'