| Recent Avalanches? | No |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | Yes |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observation: Chugach State Park
Location: Williwaw Valley
Toured from Glen Alps, over the Ball Field, and into Williwaw Valley. We skied a north facing line from the Ball Field and a south facing chute on Wolverine. We dug a pit in the south facing chute on Wolverine Peak.
– Our pit results led us to believe that if we found a spot with a wind slab over the old November snow we would be in trouble. As the chute got narrower higher up it became more difficult to avoid these spots. We turned around when the slab at the margins closed in on the soft powder in the middle. The skiing was very good.
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
numerous collapses throughout the tour at all elevations and aspects.
Weather
flat light. light winds.
Snowpack
The snowpack is obviously highly variable. Within 75ft of the spot dug we found:
- 20cm of stiff wind slab over ice
- 65-85cm of powder over rocks
- 70-90cm of right side up powder over the remaining November crusts and facets.
We chose to dig in the middle of the gut, where we planned to ski.
SSE slope at 3100ft
Snow depth 170cm, depth of pit 115cm
snow hardness profile
Fist 170-120
4 finger 120-90
Facets at 90cm
pencil hard crust at 85
more facets
Knife hard melt/freeze layer 80 down
Compression test had various small collapses in the soft snow as it compressed into the hard crusts
ECTP 26 at 90cm down, right below melt freeze layer. -> Our worry became finding a slab over this reactive layer.
The shovel was left in place when the column propagated. ECT taps easily plowed through the soft snow until it was close enough (snow was compacted enough) to trigger the weak layer.