Observation: Turnagain, Summit

Location: Eddies and Manitoba

Date:
Observer:
Route & General Observations

Today we toured to just above treeline on Manitoba. Yesterday we went just above treeline on Eddies. Snow on the ground and skis on our feet meant we had a great time despite tricky skiing above treeline.

Red Flags
Red flags are simple visual clues that are a sign of potential avalanche danger. Please record any sign of red flags below.
Observer Comments

The only sign we saw was some localized (about 10 feet across) collapsing of stiff old windslab above treeline on Manitoba.

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

Clear, calm and beautiful both days! Inversion with temps in the negative single digits F at the car park, and in the 20's above treeline.

Snow surface

Below treeline was nice skiing on recycled powder in sheltered areas. Above treeline the skiing was difficult and variable on wind hammered old slabs, anti tracks, interspersed with some nice turns on facets.

Snowpack

Poor structure in both locations at all elevations as perfectly described in the advisories.

Yesterday at Eddies we dug test profiles at 1,500 feet on a 15 degree N aspect and found the two surface hoar layers at 50 and 60 cm down but no CT or ECT results. At a second site on Eddies at 1,800 feet on a 28-degree W aspect we found the surface hoar layers at a similar depth of 50 and 60 cm, but both were more reactive (CT moderate resistant planar, ECTN hard). At this second site we found an additional layer that was 10cm up that gave us ECTP24.

Today at Manitoba we dug in the powder facet fields at 2,000 feet on an 18-degree S aspect and found 50 cm of facets that gave us CT easy sudden collapse at 25cm and ECTP moderate at 25 cm.

Thank you for the amazing advisories!