| Trigger | Unknown | Remote Trigger | Unknown |
| Avalanche Type | Unknown | Aspect | Unknown |
| Elevation | unknown | Slope Angle | unknown |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | unknown |
| Vertical Run | unknown |
Avalanche: Turnagain
Location: Tincan Trees
Northern Tincan Trees – up the down track and through the trees to 2050′ we go
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observer Comments
Todd's Run had a very large-ish (D2.5 - 3) slab run in the past day, with the crown very similar to the slide just after New Years. On the way down, this avalanche pulled out a deep pocket on the low ridge that defines the skiers right of the bowl... see photos below.
One small snowmachine triggered slab today at alderline on Seattle Ridge, roughly across from Tincan.
Small recent dry loose natural avalanches on steeps of Seattle Ridge.
A likely small glide crack opening up across from Eddies on Seattle Ridge.
Occasional moderate snow transport along Seattle Ridge, from west to northwest winds
Despite lots of off skin track travel, no cracking or collapsing, and no recent avalanche activity observed on the south aspect of Eddies.
Weather
Broken skies in the AM, transitioning to few clouds by afternoon
32 degrees at the car, dropping slightly throughout the day
COLD light south to southwest wind (direction likely from terrain) at treeline
Snow surface
3" of new snow overnight, on top of a thin breakable melt freeze crust at the parking lot (1000') which disappeared by 1200'
Ski penetration of 8-10" except for wind affected locations near treeline, where ski pen was 4-6". Boot penetration of 2' at treeline.
Snowpack
See below for snow structure at a slightly wind scoured location at treeline on a NW aspect, where we were seeking a location to evaluate structure to the ground. While the Christmas crust, Thanksgiving crust, and 1/10 buried surface hoar (BSH) were all present, the two crusts were too deep for standard stability tests, and we had no results on the 1/10 BSH. The 1/10 BSH was surrounded by firmer snow, and wasn't upright in the pit wall... potentially not representative of non-winded slopes in the region.
Structure wise, a thin layer of .5 - 1mm facets are developing on top of the very impressive Christmas crust. Lower in the snowpack, the facets just below the top Thanksgiving Day melt freeze crust (down 160cm at this location) were also larger than they were last month, at 4 finger hardness and 1-2mm in size with very pronounced edges. The facets above the crust were the same size, but were one step harder... see photo below.
Crown on Todds run, with a remarkably similar shape and distribution as the slide that ran just after New Years
This crown was observed well down the path of the Todds avalanche pictured above, on the skiers right ridge that defines the edge of the bowl.
Crowns and runout (almost all of it) of the recent Todd's avalanche
This small slab was triggered today by a snow machine on Seattle Ridge, right at alderline... roughly mid slope
Large slab avalanche was present this morning on Seattle Ridge, roughly across from the Tincan parking lot.
Snow structure at a slightly wind scoured location on the northern end of Tincan Trees
Periods of moderate snow transport along Seattle Ridge
Dry loose avalanches, not running far, on Seattle Ridge steeps
Small glide crack potentially... roughly across from Eddies on Seattle Ridge.
At around 1500' at the base of the tree runs we found a bunch of slabs from last week, now covered in ~12" of snow. Slope angles were often in the low-30s. No cracking or collapsing today adjacent to these slides, even on steeper slope features.