| Recent Avalanches? | Yes |
| Collapsing (Whumphing)? | No |
| Cracking (Shooting cracks)? | No |
Observation: Turnagain
Location: Sunburst
A quick hike up Sunburst this afternoon with the CNFAIC crew!
Obvious signs of instability
Observer Comments
Glide avalanches - a few glides released overnight on Seattle Ridge - see photos below.
Weather
Party sunny, warm and breezy on the ridgelines as well as in the valleys. Temps ~38F at 1,000' and winds light and northerly along the road then 5-10mph with stronger gusts from the NE mostly on Sunburst Ridge, but the winds did swirl around a bit today with plumes in multiple directions.
Snow surface
Very wet and saturated snow exists from the road up to 2,700'. Boot penetration is to the hip up to ~2,000' where it is at the knee, then the ankle at ~3,000'. Between 2,700' and 3,000' a thin crust becomes present on the surface and covers 3-5" of wet snow grains that sit on moist very dense snow. There was great corn-type skiing from 2,700' to 1,800' ish.
Snowpack
We could not find any weakness within the snowpack today. At the upper elevations a variety of crusts sit near the surface and many of these were soft and in the melt phase this afternoon. At the lower elevations, below 2,500', the pack is mostly wet, unsupportable and isothermal (meaning the whole pack is at 0 deg Celsius).
Seattle Ridge uptrack looking from the Sunburst Ridge - A large glide crack threatens the well-traveled uptrack.
Many old and some new glide avalanches along Seattle Ridge....
Again, many old and some new glide avalanches along the Tincan Ridge and the Library
A look up at Sunburst Ridge
A look over at Magnum Ridge
Snowpit at 3,200' on Sunburst showed strong stable snow with a 4" layer of wet snow on the surface caped by a thin crust.
The CNFAIC crew