Observation: Turnagain

Location: Tincan

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Toured up standard route to 2200′. The plan was to do some rescue practice and get a look around at surface conditions. Could see flagging along ridge tops due to strong winds transporting snow into space and loading leeward aspects. Lenticular clouds were seen all day, evidence of high winds aloft.

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

Active wind loading
Avalanche activity between Pyramid and Alpenglow seen from the Seward Hwy

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

Strong Easterly winds (30's w/ gust in 60s)
Partly cloudy (lenticulars above many mountains) w/ sun most of the day
Temps were in low 30's F at 11am and cooled into 20's by 3pm
No new precip

Snow surface

1000-2000' : 5mm of surface hoar sitting on 10" of lose faceting snow in trees
Above 2000': Variable surfaces including sastrugi, wind boards, exposed crust, pockets of wind slabs and pockets of powder

Snowpack

Dug a quick pit at 2200', WSW aspect, HS:95cm. Moist melt/freeze gains found in bottom 45cm of snowpack and moist 2mm facets on ground. Stout crust 25cm Pencil hard crust in middle of pack with 30cm of wind affected 1F to 4F snow on surface. CTX, CT29 failed on moist facets on the ground.

Photos & Video
Please upload photos below. Maximum of 5 megabytes per image. Click here for help on resizing images. If you are having trouble uploading please email images separately to staff.