Weather was clear and cold. Throughout the day clouds were building from the south and east winds began picking up. Ridgelines and peaks were flagging near the Portage area.
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Tincan
We skinned up the Tincan common skin track. Good visibility allowed us to see a few avalanches from this weekend’s storm. There were a few isolated wind slabs that were small (D1). We only saw one avalanche crown on the south face of Todd’s Bowl (~D2) that looked like it avalanched in the storm snow. We were also looking for buried surface hoar as well as how the storm snow was settling.
Weather
Snow surface
From the parking lot to around 1,500' we saw very small surface hoar crystals that disappeared as we skinned higher. Above tree line the snow was lightly wind affected.
Snowpack
There was a stout 3" crust gradually thinning and disappearing at 1,600', with 3" of snow on top. As we skinned higher the snow under ski felt like there was denser storm snow above lighter snow. We dug a pit at 1,900' and 2900' Both pits did not have concerning results overall. In the 1,900' pit two layers had resistant planar fractures, down 35cm and 105cm (CT23 and CT27).
Surface Hoar layer CT23 down 105cm. 12.26.2023
Another glide avalanche one ridge behind Seattle Ridge. 12.26.2023
Clouds building quickly from the south. 12.26.2023
Wind from the east flagging peaks in the Portage area. 12.26.2023