Noted several glide crack avalanches on the SW side of Tincan ridge in area of Southside ski run. Roller balls and small loose snow avalanches below cornice on S side of Tincan ridge.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Tincan
Ascended via standard uptrack on Tincan. to high point at 3238 ft on ridge. Descended via NW face.
Observer Comments
Weather
Mostly sunny in am with some thin AS clouds moving in by pm. At 15:47 at 3238 ft on Tincan was 45F with winds SE@3-4 mph.
Snow surface
Boot supportable M/F crust in valley bottom near parking lot. By mid afternoon snow on S and W facing slopes had softened with boot penetration to 1 ft. N side of Tincan ridge at 3238 ft covered by up to 12 in wind transported snow on old M/F crust.
Snowpack
Rock hard snowpack at valley level. Avg snow depth 165 cm. At approx. 2100 ft and above M/F crust covered by 2-3 in of ski-supportable sintered snow deposited during storm last Tuesday? Noted signs of wind transport. By midafternoon snowpack on S. side ridge had softened. However N. side consisted on 6-12 in thick wind transported soft slab on 3 in M/F crust. Quick shovel shear test in hasty pit gave STM at contact between 6 in soft slab and underlying M/F crust.
Panorama of glide crack avalanches on Seattle Ridge. Note that most originate at approx the same elevation???
Glide crack avalanche on upper portion of Southside ski run
Skinners delema; skiing from S aspect wet sun-affected snow to N. side wind transported rounds.