Tuckerman Ravine

Starting from Pinkham, up to Hermit Lake, and into Tuckerman Ravine, the most notable observation of the day was a lack of wind. Snow was an even, cohesionless 6-inch blanket. Only in isolated areas did we encounter snow with a bit of structure.

A skier triggered a small (D1) soft slab in Hillman’s Highway just before 9:30 AM. Skier tracks in Right Gully were audible on the 12/19 melt-freeze crust, but snow appeared cohesionless in turns down the gully. A group in Left Gully encountered an even 6 inches of snow until the upper 3rd of the Gully (approx 4800 feet) found 18 inches of snow that had slight structure, but was still generally cohesionless. This party reported a shooting crack in this snow that had slightly more structure. 

Assessing conditions before the wind, there were isolated pockets of snow with more cohesion in NE aspects (likely from a window of stronger SW wind). Leaving the ravine at 11:30 AM, snow was just beginning to settle, and we observed some soft slab structure in features with a slight southerly tilt.

Due to the low winds, the more observed avalanche problem was dry loose in N-S aspects D1-D1.5  with isolated NE areas of cohesion and the beginning settlement of soft slabs, that process was likely to continue in areas undisturbed from skier traffic. When the wind speeds increase enough to start moving snow, there is plenty of snow available for transport. 

A skier triggered a small (D1) soft slab in Hillman’s Highway just before 9:30 AM.