Avalanche: Turnagain

Location: Tincan

Date:

December 8, 2019 7:00pm

Observer:

Ryan Van Luit Forecaster

Route & General Observations

Standard uptrack to 3200′. Looking around before the next storm.
Survival skiing!

Avalanche Details

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Trigger	Natural	Remote Trigger	Unknown
Avalanche Type	Soft Slab	Aspect	West
Elevation	3600ft	Slope Angle	35deg
Crown Depth	7in	Width	200ft
Vertical Run	600ft

Avalanche Details

Hippy Bowl - see photos
Below Common uptrack -see photo
Small wind slabs on Seattle Ridge
Piles of new debris visible below 3 of the N Sunburst chutes

Red Flags

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

Obvious signs of instability

Recent Avalanches?	Yes
Collapsing (Whumphing)?	No
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?	No

Observer Comments

See avalanche details for Hippy Bowl and see photos
Small avalanche below Common uptrack - see photo
Small wind slabs on Seattle Ridge
Piles of new debris visible below 3 of the N Sunburst chutes

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

Mostly sunny in the morning trending toward full cloud coverage by 3p. Temps 37-28. Calm winds increasing in the late afternoon.

Snow surface

Recent rain + warm temperatures impacted the snow surface up to ~2700' creating areas with rain runnels, but mostly only penetrating the top 1/2 - 1 inch of the snowpack. Above 2700' conditions varied from wind board to 6" of powder.

Snowpack

3200' on SW aspect adjacent to Hippy Bowl.
HS 110cm
CT failed 15 cm down under wind affected snow and 40 cm at a hardness change. Not reactive in the ECT.
ECTP22 (Q2) on the Veteran's Day facets. 105cm down over melt freeze layer.

Photos & Video

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