No signs of instability seen today.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Seattle Ridge
Afternoon ride up to Seattle Ridge to check on conditions in this area.
Observer Comments
Weather
Overcast. Very light east breeze on ridge. Temps in the 20'sF.
Snow surface
Between 5-7" of soft settled powder from the Valentine's Day storm.
A new batch of surface hoar sat on top of this, 3-5mm.
Very little wind effect along ridge and quite enjoyable riding/skiing conditions overall.
Snowpack
One snow pit at 2,000' on the front side (SE face) just north of Repeat Offender slide path.
Total depth: 250cm (~7 feet)
ECTX - no results in our Extended Column Test - great news.
The 1/25 melt freeze crust was 75cm (~2.5 feet) below the surface.
We also saw a layer in the pit wall 35cm (~1 foot) deep that was a very thin melt freeze crust, maybe from a warm mid-level cloud a week or so ago. No failures around this layer but it was definitely noticeable.
No signs of reactive wind slabs seen on the steep slopes on the back side of Seattle. In general, the snowpack where we traveled showed good stability.
Snow pit just north of Repeat Offender
CNFAIC Intern Megan Guinn looking at a new crop of surface hoar on top of the ridge
Low light conditions today - looking into Zero Bowl
Warm Up (-1) Bowl
Thank you for the help today and the support in general Hunter! Note the Friends of the Chugach Avalanche Center sticker on his board :).