Persistent Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Very Likely
- Size
- 2–3
Recent avalanches: No recent avalanches have been reported in the Seward zone, however it harbors a similar snowpack structure to Turnagain Pass but has seen less traffic. There were at least 13 large to very large human-triggered avalanches in the Turnagain Pass zone between Sunday and Monday, January 11th and 12th. Most of these were triggered remotely from the bottom of, or adjacent to the slope that avalanched to include slides on Repeat Offender (Seattle Ridge), Lynx Creek, Tincan Common, Eddie's Headwall, Main Bowl, and near the Seattle Ridge weather station.
With incoming weather and a snowpack that is progressively closer to its breaking point, this is a day to avoid avalanche terrain, period. An atmospheric river is impacting southcentral Alaska today. This will bring strong winds, warming temperatures and significant precipitation in the form of rain at lower elevations and snow in the mountains. This is really the first strong shock to the well documented facet/ crust combination that has been responsible for a dozen or more human-triggered avalanches in the Turnagain Pass areas since Sunday, mostly failing remotely. Natural avalanches are likely and human-triggered avalanches are very likely with conditions becoming increasingly more dangerous as the storm intensifies and daylight fades.
