Turnagain Pass

Since the snow (and rain) started falling Thursday night, we have received 2-3″ water, which has amounted to 2 feet or more snow in the alpine, and has fallen as almost all rain below 1000′.  This includes 1-1.5″ water in the past 24 hours for Turnagain Pass and Girdwood, and 2.8″ water in Portage. We have seen rain on snow at elevations as high as 1900′, and the old snow did not get a chance to re-freeze ahead of the storm at elevations below around 1800′. With over 48 hours of above freezing temperatures, conditions are primed to see continued very large wet slab avalanche activity similar to the one on Raggedtop Thursday evening.

These large avalanches have the potential to run long distances into valley bottoms, and are nothing to mess with. This means we will need to avoid spending time in avalanche runout zones, as well as on steep avalanche-prone terrain. As Wendy mentioned in yesterday’s advisory, these next few days will most likely mark the start of our springtime shed cycle. We need to navigate the backcountry carefully as things start to fall apart.

Wet Loose Avalanches will be likely at elevations below 1900′, where the storm is finishing as rain on snow. These can be big enough to be dangerous on their own, and they also have the potential to pull out larger wet slabs. Just one more reason to avoid steep slopes today.

Cornices were already massive ahead of this round of stormy weather, and they are being pushed towards their breaking point. As always, be sure to limit time spent traveling under them, and keep plenty of space from the edge if you are traveling along ridgelines.

Glide Avalanches have been releasing across the area, and are expected to continue to release with above-freezing weather. They are large and unpredictable, so be sure to avoid lingering below glide cracks.

The storm from the past two days has put a heavy load on a wet snowpack, with rain on snow up to around 1900′. This will make for dangerous avalanche conditions today. 04.22.2022

This storm has brought over 2′ of snow in the upper elevations. Winds have been blowing 20-40 mph out of the east with gusts of 55-65 mph, and are expected to stay strong this morning before slowly calming down later in the day. This is a significant loading event, and will make for continued dangerous avalanche conditions today even as the storm subsides. Human-triggered storm slab avalanches up to 2′ deep or deeper will be likely, with even bigger wind slab avalanches  on upper elevation slopes that have been getting loaded by the strong winds since the storm began.

This storm snow is falling on a mix of weak surfaces. On upper elevation northerly aspects, fresh storm slabs are sitting on dry, faceted snow. The storm buried a crust on all other aspects at elevations above 2000′. On lower elevations, the old snow did not have a chance to refreeze before the storm picked up, which will make for a whole other set of wet avalanche problems (mentioned in problem 1 above).

The avalanche conditions today are very different from what we have been enjoying over the past two weeks. Dangerous conditions will require cautious terrain use. We will need to take a step back and avoid traveling on steep terrain, and limit time spent in avalanche runout zones. If the sun is able to come out for any amount of time this afternoon, be on the lookout for increasing avalanche danger as the new snow heats up.

Yesterday at Tincan was a stark contrast to the conditions we have been enjoying for the past two weeks. 04.22.2022

Click here to view the video from the field yesterday if it doesn’t load in your browser.