Observation: Turnagain

Location: Turnagain Seattle Ridge / Seattle Creek

Date:

April 22, 2021 1:00pm

Observer:

Troy Tempel

Route & General Observations

Spring time Tour de Turnagain. Common moto uptrack to Seattle Ridge. Dropped into -3 Bowl down to Seattle Creek. Messed around Seattle Headwall for a little bit. Back out of -3 Bowl. Rode Seattle Ridge to the weather station. Dropped down into Little Sweden for a corn harvest. Worked our way towards Gods Country, surface conditions started to become saturated so we turned around (major change in boot penetration). Back to Seattle Ridge and worked towards Pyramid. Ultra-high winds that direction, felt like at least 30+ mph sustained. Turned around and dropped into 2nd Bowl. Harvested more low angle tree corn. Traveled from 2nd Bowl into Main Bowl to finish out the day. Overall great Spring day!

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

Expected sun baked slopes starting to let loose. Tried to minimize exposure under such features. Not really a day to be climbing hills. Purposely accessed our perceived higher risk areas in the morning while surface conditions were still frozen.

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

Mostly sunny, increasing clouds in the afternoon. Mild to moderate winds all day. Parking lot had re-frozen ice at 10:00 am. Seemed the wind and light clouds helped to slow the thaw.

Snow surface

Mostly refrozen in the morning, 2-4 inch boot penetration as surfaces warmed. Saturated surfaces showed 4 to 6+ inch penetration. Some rollerball activity, but generally less than anticipated. Conditions degraded rapidly around tree-line of the moto uptrack (~5:00 pm)

Photos & Video

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