| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Wet Loose Snow | Aspect | Unknown |
| Elevation | unknown | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | unknown |
| Vertical Run | unknown |
Avalanche: Seward
Location: Tiehacker Mountain
We toured up Tiehacker Mountain to check out how the snowpack is warming up with warm temperatures, recent rain, and some sun today. It had frozen overnight to sea level, but just barely and it warmed up fast with above freezing temps and sun. There was snow on the trees above 1,500’ indicating it rained below this elevation during the storm this week. We saw quite a few loose snow avalanches, but no slabs. There were dry loose in the upper elevations and wet loose below about 3,000’. We triggered several wet loose avalanches on our ski down, which was challenging because of how wet the surface snow had become.
Avalanche Details
We triggered several wet loose avalanches during our descent on steep south and west facing test slopes.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observer Comments
We observed widespread recent loose snow avalanches both dry in the upper elevations and wet below 3,000'.
Weather
It was nice to see the sun today after several cloudy days. The temperature was in the upper 30’s F at the car and winds were calm.
Snow surface
There was a 2” breakable crust with moist snow below up to 1,000’. Once we climbed out of the trees the sun had warmed the surface so there was a little soft warm snow on top. The snow warmed throughout the day and by the time we headed down at 4:30pm it was very wet and mushy and difficult to ski.
Snowpack
We dug a pit at 2,240’ on a south aspect where the snow was 6’ deep (180cm). Our test results indicated that with a large amount of force an avalanche could be triggered on a layer about 1.5’ below the surface that was sitting on a thin 1cm crust (CT28 BRK, ECTP30). The more likely problem to encounter right now is a loose avalanche. Boot penetration was mostly ankle to shin with one hip deep, but I think that might have been near an alder. I suspect boot penetration would have been deeper on those slopes we triggered wet loose avalanches on our descent.
Lost Lake area from the east side of the highway. 3.27.2024
Bird imprint on the soft surface snow. 3.27.2024
Roller balls on a west facing slope. 3.27.2024
Big beautiful coastal trees with moss and a Devil's Club slalom course. 3.27.2024
Snowpack on Tiehacker Mountain at 2,240'. 3.27.2024
Snow Pilot version of snowpack 3.27.2024