Observation: Turnagain

Very limited visibility today but did get an idea of how Turnagain Pass looks
after yesterday’s (Tuesday’s) 100+ mph winds and around a foot of snow (~1″ water).

Many, but not all, of the Seattle ridge east facing gullies have some debris
at the bottom but crowns were hard to identify and/or look to be filled in by
snow/wind. Ridges and sub-ridges are scoured to the rocks in many places. Wind
looks to have blown hard in many areas from the ridges down to treeline in general.

Around 10-14″ (1000′-2500′) of snow total from Tuesday 1/10 sits on top of the
1/7 rime crust. Obscured cloudy skies began to lightly snow in the afternoon and
light rain below 4-500′. Warm temps, around 30F @ 1000′.

Pictures are from 2 pits dug to assess bonding of storm snow and around the 1/7
rime crust.

Pit #1 (2500′, 33deg, NW)
Wind loaded area with a wind slab 55cm (20″) deep made of Tuesday 1/10 storm
snow sitting above rime crust which overlies older soft snow from 1/5 and 1/7.
CT10 and 11 Q2, ECTN 17 Q3, failing @ ~7-10cm below rime crust in older snow
4finger hardness. Very rough break.

Pit #2 (2500′, 30 deg, NW)
Slightly scoured and wind effected location where crust sits only 20cm (8″)
below Tuesday’s snow.
CT 7 and 9 Q2, ECTN 11 Q2, failing @ 7cm below the crust again in the older
snow. Slightly cleaner breaks in this pit.

Bottom line for now with the crust is we need to keep an eye on it for future issues. It doesn’t seem to be reacting currently but limited obs from higher elevations are keeping that still a question.