| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Seattle Ridge
Tour up the common up-track to the top of Seattle Ridge and the Repeat Offender area.
Was pleased to see the surprise storm dropped 14″ of low density snow overnight… Where we were it was so loose it was not creating slab avalanche issues, but I’m guessing this is not the case in the higher wind affected zones.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
Some shooting cracks in areas with wind loading. We did not see much wind effect however.
Weather
In and out clouds and light snowfall. No viz to great viz every 15 minutes...
Temps in the single digits.
Winds light from the east.
Snow surface
14" of low density snow from overnight. Only a trace fell through the day.
Snowpack
Dug one pit at 2,300'. Snow depth 150cm (~5')
Pretty simple - Saw 14" of new snow over 6-8" of faceted snow over a crust. We did see the Veteran's Day buried surface hoar, but it was intermixed with the facets and not always discernible.
ECTX due to the new snow being so loose, it just fell apart under the shovel.
Hand pits at 2,500', showed a similar snowpack profile, except the faceted snow sat on a dense base, not a crust.
Bottom line: Although we were in non wind affected areas, anywhere the new snow is cohesive enough to act like a slab, due to wind or settlement, we can expect human triggered avalanches. We were watching closely for this.
Snow pit at 2300' - 14" of new low density snow over 6-8" of very loose faceted snow, all over a stout crust from Halloween.
Tincan and Eddies from across the road
Clouds were in and out all day
Wind effect along the very top of Seattle Ridge
Turnagain Pass, getting whiter!
Headed up the up-track
14" of new snow made for a total snow depth of 2 feet at the parking lot level. The forest is watching this closely for a motorized opener - still not enough snow, possibly one more storm.