No red flags seen.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Seattle Ridge - Headwall
Rode into the upper drainage of Seattle Creek and into the east headwall area.
Observer Comments
Weather
Sunny, light NE winds, temps around 20F
A few NE gusts around 1pm that was generating a few small plumes along the high peaks.
Snow surface
8-12" of soft settled powder in sheltered areas.
Considerable wind effect from past winds along ridges and peaks. Our high point was 3,700'.
Wind slabs seemed to be stuck on, no signs of cracking or collapsing.
Snowpack
We noted several old wind slab avalanches that likely released during the snow/wind on Dec 27th.
We dug one snowpit at 1,500' to take a look at the Dec 1st crust/facet combo.
Snow depth: 225cm (7') with no weak layers found in the top 5' (depth of pit).
Crust was 130cm deep (4') and around 5cm thick. It was a mix of bonded grains and .5mm faceted grains.
A deep tap test failed at 21 taps with a very uneven break (Q3).
In short, the crust appeared to not show much weakness compared with some other pits on the non-moto side of the Pass.
Old wind slab avalanche on of the headwall chutes. Many of the steep chutes in the upper drainage has flushed during the past 1-2 storms.
Looking out across the Seattle Creek drainage and the much loved and used back bowls.
A look into the 'new world' - the drainage to the south of the Seattle Ck drainage.