South of Highway Zones (excluding Thompson Pass)
Quick report
Overflight of most of the zones south of the highway (excluding Thompson Pass) showed a unusually thin snowpack despite the January precip. Similar flights over the same zones earlier in the season illustrate a consistent pattern of thin cover and many areas that are harboring basal facets. The thin weaker areas are easily identifiable currently, but if and when new snow finally covers these rocky areas it will be hard to decipher the complex puzzle that exists in many areas. Many of the maritime zones look like the far northern chugach typically does with very thin cover. The lower 1/3 of many of the rockier runs in colder valleys have slid to the ground on thin cover leaving a thin layer of facets on rocks that will likely persist due prolonged high pressure. Many glaciers that normally are covered by now are still open. General caution advised to visitors to Valdez who don't know the terrain well. (ignore the gps pin location dropped on the map with this obs, this is a general observation) On the positive side, no surface hoar was observed but that could change this week with extended high pressure.
Avalanche
Multiple failures to the ground on rocky features.