| Trigger | Natural | Remote Trigger | 0 |
| Avalanche Type | Wet Loose Snow | Aspect | South |
| Elevation | 5000ft | Slope Angle | 60deg |
| Crown Depth | unknown | Width | unknown |
| Vertical Run | unknown |
Avalanche: Girdwood
Location: Upper Girdwood Valley (Crow Ck drainage)
Toured up to a high point of 4,600′. Many wet loose avalanche in the past couple days on steep south faces.
Avalanche Details
A few small wet loose slides seen today on very steep rocky southerly slopes.
Obvious signs of instability
| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observer Comments
South facing slopes had widespread wet loose avalanche activity over the past 24-48 hours. We noticed a few wet/mist slabs that were triggered by wet loose debris running over them. See photo. Only very small roller balls and wet sluffs were see today. The majority of this activity is most likely from Monday 2/25.
Weather
Sunny, light westerly winds, temps in the 20'sF.
Snow surface
Snow surface was mix of soft faceting snow, wind crust and sun crust. We avoided the severely wind affected areas as they were easy to see.
Snowpack
Two pits today to look at the top 2.5' of the snowpack. The slab avalanches that pulled out in the photo below are likely to have failed on what we are calling the Valentine's layer, which is a combination of small facets and crusts in areas. The layer was buried just after Valentine's day and sits under the 10-16" of settled storm snow from last week (2/16-2/20). Direct sun warming the slab was a likely contributing factor as well as the debris running over it as the trigger. No other slab avalanches were seen.
Pit #1: 3,000', East, 20 deg
ECTP 21 down 14" (35cm) on the Valentine's facets
Pit #2: 4,600', South, 30 deg
ECTN 21 down 8" (20cm) on the Valentine's facets
Wet loose and a few slabs on steep south facing slopes.
Close up of the largest slab seen that was triggered by the wet loose debris.
Pit #1 at 3,000'.
Pit #2 at 4,600'.