Observation: Turnagain

Location: Tincan - Todds Bowl

Date:

April 13, 2016 4:00pm

Observer:

H. Thamm Professional

Route & General Observations

Skinned up normal up track of Tincan to 3600′ and descended Todd’s Bowl. We observed a recent skier triggered windslab on a North aspect and recent wet loose point releases on Solar aspects, and roller balls on all aspects.

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

*Small skier triggered wind slab from yesterday - spoke with a party of two today who said one them triggered it yesterday afternoon. (SS-ASu-R1-D1-I)
*Very warm temps - 40F's and surface snow (top 2") was wet and saturated by the afternoon on solar aspects. We could easily push this wet snow on small steep features and it would entrain big wet pinwheel rollerballs with dry snow underneath (above 1500')

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

Partly cloudy
Mid to high 40F's
Light winds from the NE
No new precip, except it was raining North of Turnagain Pass near Ingram Creek/Turnagain Arm.

Snow surface

1000- Wet saturated snow (boot pen=thigh high)
1500- 1" wet snow on m/f crust (boot pen=knee high)
2000'- 2" wet snow on 4" drier snow (boot pen= knee high)
2500' - 3600' Solar aspects 2" wet snow on 6" dry snow (boot pen=ankle deep) Shaded aspect 8-10" dry snow

Snowpack

Dug a pit at 3600', North aspect, 32*slope, HS=310cm. Moderate to high strength snow within the top 100cm of the snowpack and tests did not reveal propagation potential. The top 20cm were 4finger on Fist hard new snow and released easily (CT4.) We also found a layer of preserved stellar crystals 45cm below the surface (CT19 RP), and also found a layer of buried surface hoar (very rounded and laying down) 85cm below the surface (CT24 RP). Extended column test did not produce any results with propagation (ECTX.)

Photos & Video

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