Observation: Hatcher Pass

Skied some stuff on either side of Reed Lakes Basin a little southwest of where glacier creek meets reed creek, skiing on SE and NW Aspects. Ascending up to about 3,300 ft.

Area was lightly to moderately wind affected. Still large sections of good snow, but there was some sastrugi, breakable crust, wind-effect, and windslabs to deal with. Winds seem to have been quite complex in this area with wind loading having a presence on seemingly all aspects. Evidence of recent cross loading as well.

Signs of instability: On SE aspect, we triggered shooting cracks on small windslabs on 28-30 deg slope whereupon we turned around. Windslabs were somewhere between 4F and 1F hardness, elevation around 3,300 ft. Down here, at least the ones we found were small, localized, and varying between 10cm to 25 cm thick, but undoubtedly there’d be more frequent and larger ones higher up in elevation.

At end of tour around 1515, storm clouds and some wind rapidly moved in, with light snow beginning around 1530.