| Trigger | Skier | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Soft Slab | Aspect | North |
| Elevation | 2200ft | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | 12in | Width | 40ft |
| Vertical Run | 100ft |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Tincan to 2500'
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
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.
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
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)
Remotely triggered avalanche on a North aspect of Tincan at 2200'
Snowboard triggered avalanche on a W aspect of Tincan at 2200'
Recent natural avalanches on Lipps, on both W facing and S facing slopes.
Cracking was observed in wind stiffened snow and on/around some tree cones between 2000'-2200'.
Snow pit at 2525' on Tincan
Glide crack opening up on Tincan on a SW aspect. Also note the wind sculpted snow.
Wind blown snow close up
Melt/freeze crust was 1" thick near the road level, but quickly gets thinner and disapears with elevation.