| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Girdwood
Location: Raggedtop
Toured from Crow Creek Road up through the forest to treeline on the SE shoulder of Raggedtop. We dug a pit near treeline at 2300′ and found the January facets buried 90 cm deep, but did not get any results on that layer in our snowpit (ECT X). In wind exposed areas above 1500′ there were wind crusts on the surface, some of which produce shooting cracks.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
Some small shooting cracks in wind affected areas near treeline.
Weather
Light new snow throughout the day with less than 1" falling during our tour. Winds were light. Overcast to obscured sky cover. Temperatures were in the mid to high 20s F.
Snow surface
About 2-4" of new snow above a thick crust below 1500'. Above 1500' the snow surface was variable, in wind exposed areas there was a 1-2" thick breakable wind crust. In sheltered areas above 1500' there was 4-6" of soft snow on the surface.
Snowpack
We dug one pit on a E aspect at 2300'. We got no concerning test results in this pit location, only a couple failures in the upper 1' of the snowpack which did not propagate across the column (ECT N 3 down 5 cm, ECT N 13 down 20 cm). The January facet layer was buried about 3' (90 cm) deep and did not produce any results on our test. Overall the layer looked similar to Turnagain pass.
Lots of broken trees in the forest on the tour up.
Small shooting crack around 2000' in wind exposed meadow
Overcast skies in upper crow creek
Also overcast skies in lower Girdwood Valley
SE shoulder of Raggedtop that we skinned up and then skied down.