Raggedtop

We wanted to get a look at the snowpack structure in the high alpine in Girdwood, so we got up high at Raggedtop and dug a pit to the ground on a north-facing slope. We found a weak layer of large, faceted snow right at the ground, with about 5' of firm, dry snow on top of it. This layer hasn't produced any avalanches that we know of since January. The concern is that it could become more active as meltwater starts to make its way through the snowpack. 

Everywhere other than that high north-facing terrain has gotten quite hot over the last few days. The snow surface was wet and sloppy up to around 2500'. We were easily setting off pinwheels from the skin track on an east aspect all the way up to our high point at 3900'. We watched rollerballs, pinwheels, and wet loose avalanches moving down northeasterly slopes at a similar elevation. The transition to spring is underway, and with partly to mostly cloudy skies overnight we are not getting a very solid refreeze. This is causing things to loosen up and become unstable earlier in the day.

The snow surface had gone through a surprising amount of melt-freeze over the past week, despite consistently cloudy skies. Snow was wet and kind of sloppy below around 2500'. 

In stark contrast, we found a totally dry snowpack on an almost due north aspect at just under 3900'. Meanwhile, slopes with a little bit of an easterly tilt were shedding pinwheels, rollerballs, and small loose snow avalanches by around 1:00 this afternoon.

We dug to the ground and found a well-preserved layer of large facets at the ground. This hasn't produced any avalanches that we know of since January, but there is a good chance it will wake up as meltwater becomes a bigger factor this spring.