Avalanche: Turnagain

Location: Tincan to 2500'

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Toured to 2500′ on the normal skin track. There were three human triggered avalanches on Tincan today between 2200′- 2700′. Two were triggered remotely and one was triggered by a snowboarder. We also could see evidence of natural activity on Lipps W and S facing slopes.

Avalanche Details
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Trigger SkierRemote Trigger0
Avalanche Type Soft SlabAspect North
Elevation 2200ftSlope Angleunknown
Crown Depth 12inWidth 40ft
Vertical Run 100ft  
Avalanche Details

There were three human triggered avalanche today on Tincan. No one was caught or buried.
Two of the avalanches were triggered remotely and the other was triggered by a snowboarder descending.
2200' on a N aspect, relatively small, D1.5 - party of two breaking trail across gully from Beaded Stream snow temp instruments.
2200' on a W aspect, small, D1 - one snowboard track in/out, ~15" deep, 25' wide, ran about 50'.
2700' on a S aspect, size (?) - triggered by a party of two breaking trail near common bowl. They couldn't see the exact size due to terrain, rolls over steep convexity out of sight. They said the slab was about 15" thick.

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)?Yes
Cracking (Shooting cracks)?Yes
Observer Comments

Three human triggered avalanches
Natural avalanches on the S and W faces of Lipps
Felt/heard a whumph at 1500'
Cracking in wind stiffened snow

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

31F at road level and cooler as we gained elevation
Light Easterly winds
No new precip
Partly cloudy skies

Snow surface

1000-1300' - melt/freeze crust
1300'-2500' - 5-6" of new snow overnight
Pockets of 1-3" wind slabs above 2000'

Snowpack

Dug a handful of hand pits. Easy to moderate scores on a layer of buried surface hoar. Total slab depth varied from 12 - 20" of snow, depending on aspect (windward or leeward.)

This widespread layer of buried surface hoar was found sitting on a m/f crust to about 1500', but as you gain elevation it was failing on an older snow layer (rounds) with varying hardness of four finger.

We dug a pit at 2525' on a W aspect, 28* slope, total snow pack depth of 126cm (50".) 20" slab sitting on 1cm of buried surface hoar. Test results produced moderate scores and showed some propagation potential, but not in all tests. CT15, ECTN18, ECTP16 (RP)

Photos & Video
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