Observation: Turnagain

Location: Tincan

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Ascended standard skin track to 3300′ on Tincan. Recent slab avalanche on the Headwall in Seattle, Northern aspect. Some new wet loose avalanche activity on SE aspect of Seattle Ridge.

Updated: Glide release occurred on Eddies some time between 7:41pm and 8:01pm, as captured on DOT web cam.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

Lots of new wet loose point releases on the Southeast face of Seattle Ridge. These were obviously triggered around rocks and thin spots in dirt and covered older debris. The SE face of Seattle is pretty thin and lots of rocks and dirt can heat up easily and shed snow below and around these places. This was also the case on Southern aspect os Penguin Ridge in Girdwood. There was also a recent slab avalanche on a North aspect of the Seattle Headwall, trigger unknown at this time.

Weather & Snow Characteristics
Please provide details to help us determine the weather and snowpack during the time this observation took place.
Weather

Clear and sunny
Winds increased from calm to light (3-8mph) by late afternoon

High temps for the today:
Center ridge wx station - 53F
Seattle Ridge - 42F, Winds SW
Sunburst - 38F

Snow surface

-Stout and supportable m/f crust below 2000' becoming wet and saturated on steep southerly aspects. Could punch ski pole deep into wet snow, especially below 1600' at 4:30pm. 1" corn snow on lower angle southerly and SW aspects.
-In the alpine there is a 4"supportable m/f crust solar aspects (SW-SE). By mid day it was softening on Southerly aspects.
-In the alpine on Northern and shaded low angle aspects there is a 1-3" of settled powder on the surface

Snowpack

Pit #1 - South aspect, 3200', HS=350cm. Old sun crust/new storm snow interface was 115cm (45") below the surface. Did a deep tap test, which failed with hard force (DT25.) No persistent weak layers were found in the top 130cm of snow. The sun crust was jagged and wasn't a planer surface. No other tests were performed.

Pit #2 - North aspect, 3100', HS =150cm. Several week layer were found within the top 105cm including buried surface hoar 70cm (28") below the surface, a thin layer of facets 85cm (34") below the surface, and 5cm layer of facets 105cm (41") below the surface. Compression test and Extended Column tests failed on both of the facet layers at the same time. (CT24, ECTP27.) The buried surface hoar failed on 24 taps in a compression test, but the facet layers weren't properly isolated. The buried surface hoar was 6mm and still standing up, but it was frozen/rimed and resistant to failure in this pit.

Photos & Video
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