| Trigger | Snowmachiner | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | West |
| Elevation | 3000ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 16in | Width | 30ft |
| Vertical Run | 40ft |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Seattle Ridge
Rode mostly the Southerly side of Seattle Ridge and looked into the North side for any evidence of recent human triggered avalanches during today’s sunny power day.
Avalanche Details
Very small pockets of storm slabs 14-20" thick were failing on the Jan 21 buried surface hoar that is around 1cm is size.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observer Comments
Several small slabs seen in Seattle Creek drainage today. Cracking and collapsing felt as well, but slab was so soft that it was hard for avalanches to initiate. Several folks testing steep slopes without incident.
Weather
Sunny, calm and temps in the low 20'sF.
Snow surface
14-16" of new snow from 1/26 is still very soft (fist hard). There is small surface hoar growing on the surface.
Snowpack
Dug one pit to assess the storm snow interface at 2,400'. Buried surface hoar sits under the storm snow 14-16" deep and had mixed results in pit tests:
ECTP 21 Sudden Collapse
ECTN 17
The new snow is still quite soft and loose and not showing signs of wide propagation despite sitting on reactive buried surface hoar. It seems this is why most of the avalanches triggered today were just small pockets or sluffs. This could all change with wind and settling of the slab however.
Small pocket of storm slab that failed on the 1/21 buried surface hoar
Wider view of the small pockets triggered
Snow Pit in Main Bowl around 2,400' and NE facing
The North side of Seattle Ridge did not seem to see any avalanche activity today other than sluffing
Looking across the valley, a small slab seems to have been triggered in Hippy Bowl on Tincan