Turnagain Pass and Girdwood

It is unlikely - not impossible - that a person will trigger an avalanche today. You may still find isolated pockets of reactive snow in some steep wind-loaded terrain, but those chances are slim as another quiet day of weather is on the way. Even though conditions are generally stable, it is still important to follow safe travel protocols like traveling one at a time in steep terrain and watching partners from safe areas outside of runout zones.

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SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

The Avalanche Rescue Workshop at Glen Alps has been POSTPONED to Sunday, February 9th.  The workshop is 100% free of charge and all experience levels are welcome. Click HERE for more information.

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

• State of the Snowpack talk - 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.

Recent Avalanches: On Friday a skier triggered an avalanche on a steep, wind-loaded terrain feature in the Lynx Creek drainage. The skier was caught and carried, sustained serious injuries and was evacuated by the Air National Guard. We have posted a full report on the incident and the response here. Thank you to the parties involved for sharing the information and photos. We're wishing the injured skier a quick recovery.

After several days of quiet weather and no major layers of concern in the Turnagain Pass zone, it is unlikely that a person will trigger an avalanche today. That is a broad statement for a large area, so be careful how you use that information. A few things to keep in mind:

• There is always a small chance of finding pockets of unstable snow, especially in steep alpine terrain. This was the case with the recent avalanche incident on Friday, and although chances of finding something similar today are small, they are never zero.
• The snowpack in the Crow Creek area on the northwest corner of the Turnagain forecast zone may be more similar to the Summit Lake snowpack than the rest of the Turnagain Pass zone. If you travel in that area, it will be important to be a little more careful with snowpack assessment and terrain management.
• The snowpack from Johnson Pass to Silvertip Creek is a transitional zone between the generally stable Turnagain Pass snowpack and the potentially problematic Summit Lake setup. Similarly to Crow Creek, this area warrants a little more caution than the core of the Turnagain Pass zone. 

Avalanche accidents happen even when the danger is low. As always, pay attention to the conditions in the area where you are traveling, and adjust objectives if you notice any surprising signs like shooting cracks or collapsing. You can minimize the consequences of finding an unlucky pocket of unstable snow by sticking with safe travel protocols. This includes traveling one at a time in steep terrain, watching partners from safe locations, and carrying appropriate rescue gear so you can recover if things go wrong.

Cornices: There are many large cornices that will begin to heat up during the temperature inversion that is settling in this week. These often catch people by surprise, breaking back much further from the edge than we'd expect. Keep that in mind if you are traveling along ridgelines, and be sure to limit spending time under them since they can release naturally.

Glide avalanches: Glide cracks continue to pop open throughout our forecast areas. We are only aware of one that has released so far, but more are appearing every day. These avalanches are very large and unpredictable. The best way to manage this problem is to avoid spending time under open glide cracks.