Avalanche: Hatcher Pass

Location: Fishhook parking lot, El Dorado mountain

Date:

January 29, 2017 9:01pm

Observer:

Josh w

Route & General Observations

Numerous snowmachine triggered avalanches on 30+ degree slopes. Shooting cracks on anything above 25 degrees. Very dangerous to play in the mountains on 1/29. Thankfully everyone is safe.

One snowboarder was caught in the runoff of an avi (not pictured) but managed to ride into a clearing.

Avalanche Details

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Trigger	Snowmachiner	Remote Trigger	0
Avalanche Type	Soft Slab	Aspect	North Northeast
Elevation	3300ft	Slope Angle	33deg
Crown Depth	unknown	Width	90ft
Vertical Run	175ft

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)?	Yes

Weather & Snow Characteristics

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

Weather

New snow and lots of wind events recently. Temp dropped from 20s to negatives within past few days. Didn't seem to affect snowpack

Snow surface

Deep shreddable pow. Tricky on slopes

Snowpack

Did an informal stability test and found an unstable layer about 18" down. Like ball bearings allowing the new stuff to just slide. Heads up!

Photos & Video

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