Gordon Lyon

The most likely avalanche problem in Chugach State Park right likely is a fresh, shallow wind slab. Although the overall snowpack structure remains poor, we have not observed any avalanche activity on old snow in nearly a month.  Gordon Lyon was characterized by an icy, wind-plastered landscape with highly variable, firm surfaces and pockets of shallow, soft wind slabs. Sunday’s warm, sunny weather formed melt-freeze crusts up to ridgetop elevations. At the ridgelines, wind board was knife-hard—so firm that we could barely penetrate it with a shovel—making formal stability tests impractical. An ECT cord would not have cut through the surface, suggesting it is unlikely that a skier’s stress would currently reach the mid- or basal faceted weak layers. Mid-elevations featured highly variable surfaces with significant knee-injury potential.  In a wind-loaded alpine start zone where we were able to assess structure, we found a thin layer of recent wind-drifted snow over firm surfaces, with faceted weak layers present in both the upper and basal snowpack. The recent warmup appeared to promote some healing, but the return to cold temperatures has refrozen the snowpack into a hard, locked-up structure. 

We were able to trigger shooting cracks on a wind-loaded gully test slope.