Turnagain Pass and Girdwood

Continued quiet weather and a generally strong snowpack make a human triggered avalanche unlikely in the Turnagain Pass zone. Accidents still occur on LOW danger days and there are several things to watch out for today. More sunshine is forecast and an inversion is making upper elevation temperatures abnormally warm. This makes both cornice fall and wet loose avalanches "sluffs" more likely today. There could also be an old stubborn windslab that a human could trigger in upper elevation steep terrain. 

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Avalanche Rescue Workshop at Glen Alps has been POSTPONED to Sunday, February 9th.  The workshop is free and all experience levels are welcome. Click HERE for more information.

We're on a brewery tour this week! Come out for two free evenings of conversations about the world of snow and avalanches:

• State of the Snowpack talk - Today! Tuesday, February 4th, 6-7pm at Onsight Brewing in Anchorage. Join Dr. John Sykes and Mary Gianotti for a night of snowpack discussion at a new venue! More details HERE. 
• Forecaster Chat - Thursday, February 6th, 6-7:30 p.m. at Girdwood Brewing Co. in Girdwood. Andrew Schauer will discuss recent CNFAC research and highlight ways it can help your backcountry game. Details HERE.

This period of calm weather is giving us a chance to get out and enjoy the snow that has accumulated and created a strong snowpack (with the exception of the Crow Creek area) from the stormy winter. The Crow Creek area has a thinner snowpack than the rest of Turnagain Pass and additional caution is warranted there. Here are some more details on the hazards and things to think about while we take advantage of this weather window. 

Recent Avalanches: We've gotten reports the last few days of small wet loose avalanches or "sluffs" being triggered naturally by the sun and warm temperatures heating the rocks on south facing slopes. One larger sluff was observed as it was occurring in the 20 Mile drainage yesterday (video below). These are the first avalanches we are aware of since the human triggered wind slab in Lynx Creek on Friday. John and Andrew investigated the very large avalanche that occurred in Ragged Bowl on January 25. Check out that video below and a report will be available soon.

Lingering Wind Slabs: We don't expect a person could trigger a wind slab today, but a stubborn one could surprise us. Watch for stiffer snow over softer snow under a ridgeline or in a cross loaded gully (see example below on Pete's North). The strong winds last week came from many directions so these could be found on any aspect. 

Cornices: Temperatures remained warm overnight in the upper elevations. This, combined with the forecast sun today, will make higher chances for a natural or human triggered cornice fall. These are unlikley to trigger an avalanche below, but there is evidence of recent cornice fall in this zone and the chunks are big enough to do some damage if they hit us from above. 

Sun effect: Many small "sluffs" were observed in Bertha Creek yesterday on the south facing slopes. There are good chances this will happen again today and there may be a sun crust on these slopes as well. There is plenty of winter left, but it is time to add the sun to the list of how the weather changes the snowpack.

Glide avalanches: New glide cracks are being noticed daily in Turnagain Pass and Summit Lake. It seems they were encouraged to wake up by the combination of the last big storm followed by a cold spell. The only one to release recently, that we know of, was sometime last week on the south end of Seattle Ridge. Two days ago, a group was surprised to find themselves climbing up over a glide crack that they hadn't been able to see due to the steep slope. Avoid spending time under them if you can, the next one could release at any time.

Safe Travel: Sticking with safe systems, even during periods of low danger, will reduce our chances of getting into trouble if we get surprised by something today. This includes making a travel plan with multiple options depending on what we find out there, checking our transceivers, airbags, communications, and other rescue gear before heading up, and traveling one at a time in avalanche terrain.