| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | Yes |
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Tincan
Standard route up West Ridge to 3100′ between Common bowl and Hippy Bowl
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
There were a few natural avalanches D1.5 - D2's - see photos
-Seattle Ridge - SE aspect
-Sunburst - North gully
-CFR ridge Tincan - cornice triggered storm slab
Shooting cracks on wind loaded unsupported features
One small collapse underfoot felt at 2300'
Weather
Overcast to broken skies from 11am to 3pm
Temp at 1000' were 37F
Winds were 5-25mph NE - SE
Light rain to moderate on the drive through Turnagain Arm and on Northern end of Turnagain Pass in the morning
Snow surface
1000 ' wet snow w/ ski pen 25cm. Thin rain crust from last week was still intact and by late afternoon was re-frozen
1500' - rain/snow line - 8cm wet snow
2000' - 20cm moist new snow
2500' - some patches of wind blown exposed rimed surface hoar to 30cm of new snow from the last two days
3000' - wind blown surfaces ranged from 20cm-40cm of new snow from the last two days
Snowpack
Dug many hand pits and found the 1/21 buried surface hoar in every location. The 1/21 BSH is sitting on a crust to ~2500'. Hand pits between 2000' - 2400' failed with moderate force on a density change above the 1/21 BSH layer. A thin crust was also noted just above the BSH, but it was still intact and standing up. In the alpine between 2700' and 3000' hand pits failed with easy to moderate force both on the 1/21 BSH and just below it on a density change.
Two test pits at 3100' on a SW aspect found the 1/21 BSH 35-40cm below the surface. All stability tests failed on this layer with moderate to strong force, 2 out of 6 ECT's propagated through the column. Shovel shear tests found 1/11 buried surface hoar 45-50cm below the surface, and two CT's failed with strong force, but no failure on ECT's. The 1/21 buried surface hoar was 6-10mm in size and sitting on a 1F- hardness. The slab was 4F with several wind packed 1F density changes. The slab broke under the shovel in several ECT's.
New debris in a North chute of Sunburst
Storm slab that entrained into wetter snow on SE aspect of Seattle Ridge
Cornice triggered storm slab on CFR of Tincan, SW aspect - starting zone is ~2600'.
Very small pocket released on an unsupported test slope at 2200' on West aspect, cracking also observed in this location
Pit at 3100', SW aspect of Tincan
NE winds were gusting into the 20's mph at times and transporting snow
Wind triggered roller balls aka 'wind balls' were seen between 1800' and 2400'
A brief window of good light reveled wind textured snow on Hippy bowl, WSW aspect
A period of broken skies in the afternoon allowed for view of Center Ridge and Sunburst
Rain/snow line was surprisingly lower than expected ~1500' where new snow was sticking to the trees.