Cold, clear, and calm. Temps were -15 F in the parking lot this morning, but felt much warmer once we gained some elevation.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Spokane Creek
We toured up the Spokane Creek drainage to get a look at the south side of Turnagain Pass. We saw a lot of avalanche activity from last weekend’s Holiday storm, but the only recent activity was the ongoing glide cycle throughout Turnagain Pass. Current surfaces are weak facets with spotty surface hoar, which will be something to keep an eye on when the next round of wind and snow moves in.
Weather
Snow surface
A few inches of very low-density snow on top of a supportable crust up to 1200'. Around 6-8" soft, dry, faceted snow above 1200'. previously stiff wind slabs that had formed earlier in the week have been faceting so most surfaces were soft.
Snowpack
We spent the day doing multiple travel tests (hand pits, test slopes, etc.) and could did not see anything concerning. We also saw heavy traffic in all kinds of steep terrain without any human-triggered avalanches. We dug one pit on a SW aspect at about 3600' (total snow depth 7'), and did not get any poor test results (ECTN15, 21, 25 all within various wind/storm snow interfaces). We were hunting for the Holiday surface hoar and did not see it anywhere. We did see widespread glide activity, and a fresh round of surface hoar and facets on the surface waiting to be buried by the next storm.
Older, wider crown on Pete's South. 12.30.2023
Plenty of tracks on Lipps. 12.30.2023
Older crowns on the Spokane headwall. 12.30.2023
Lots of traffic in Goldpan. 12.30.2023
Closeup of a fresh glide crack opening right in the middle of Goldpan. 12.30.2023