Avalanche: Portage / Placer

Location: Upper Skookum G.

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Skookum Valley and onto the Glacier to a high point of 4500’. Found good pockets of sheltered snow at ~3500’.

Avalanche Details
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Trigger NaturalRemote Trigger No
Avalanche Type UnknownAspect West Northwest
Elevation 2500ftSlope Angleunknown
Crown DepthunknownWidthunknown
Vertical Rununknown  
Avalanche Details

Looked like a wind slab originated just below the ridge and maybe pulled out a deeper slab mid slope. We saw a few different avalanches today but this appeared to be most recent. Other debris piles looked like wet slabs in large complex terrain running to the Valley floor. Likely from the rain/ warming event last week.

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

Sun glorious sun! Gap winds cranking from WNW on the high ridges. Definitely moving snow but we found plenty of areas protected from the wind.

Snow surface

4-6” soft snow on supportable crust below ~500. Crust disappears with elevation and surface varies from 8-12” soft snow to stiff wind slab. No sun effect observed.

Snowpack

No formal snowpits. Jumped on some small, steep wind loaded slopes in low and mid elevations with no results. Progressed into steeper and higher elevation terrain through the day without incident. Fun day in the sun!

Photos & Video
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