Observation: Turnagain

Location: Seattle Ridge

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Afternoon ride up to Seattle Ridge to check on conditions in this area.

Red Flags
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Observer Comments

No signs of instability seen today.

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

Photos & Video
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