Turnagain Pass and Girdwood

With a generally stable snowpack and quiet weather, it is unlikely a person will trigger a slab avalanche today. Although, an old small wind slab in steep upper elevation terrain could be an outlier. There are good chances of triggering a dry loose (sluff) avalanche especially in steep terrain. Continuing to use systems like traveling one at a time in steep terrain, and watching partners from a safe spot will help us be more prepared if a surprise avalanche happens. New glide cracks are still showing up so continue to avoid traveling under them.

Wind Slab: An easterly wind event that began over the weekend diminished on Tuesday night. While calm weather prevails today, there are some older wind slabs in the upper elevations that are sitting on weak snow that formed before the winds arrived. There's a chance a person could trigger one of these avalanches but they could be pretty stubborn and should only be 1' deep or so. Older wind slabs may not give signs like shooting cracks or whumpfs, but they may sound or feel hollow. 

Dry Loose: Small dry loose "sluffs" were triggered yesterday by riders on the Seattle Ridge side of Turnagain Pass. We expect this to be the case today especially in steep terrain. Watch for hazards below in case you get caught up in sluff and knocked over. 

Cornice: We found an old, large cornice fall yesterday on the Seattle Ridge side of Turnagain Pass. With quiet weather, the cornice fall activity has been slowing down, and it's unlikley a cornice fall would trigger a larger slab avalanche, but falling off a ridge with a chunk of cornice might not be the best part of the day.

Glide: The glide activity has slowed, but yesterday a new crack was noticed on Seattle Ridge. We hope the slow will come to a stop, but until then, continue to avoid traveling underneath glide cracks when possible.