Quick report
Charlotte, Cooper, and I climbed up to the March 11th snowboarder triggered avalanche in Tuckerman Ravine around 12pm. Although it was warm in the sun we observed limited solar gain on the surface snow. The average depth of the debris was .5m and deepest observed was 1.5m. It's worth noting that some of this debris was from a previous avalanche, and while it may have been easier to discern on Tuesday, the refrozen surface made it difficult. The toe of the debris was at 4468ft. The surface area was .8 acre. After discussion, I'd categorize this avalanche as WS-AR-R3-D1.5 as it's a medium avalanche relative to the path. Since it was a wet slab and with an average depth of .5m, felt as though it could certainly knock someone off their feet and potentially bury, making it 1.5 on the destructive scale. Generally poor skiing conditions all around.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 29.5
- Cloud Cover
- clear
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- NO
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Clear skies in the morning. Light winds with intermittent stronger gusts. Increase of clouds and overcast sky around 2pm.
Snowpack
Hard refrozen surfaces from warming the day before. Especially bumpy and textured on areas that had been skied. Generally poor skiing conditions all around. No warming observed on solar aspects.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5 R3
- Type
- WS
- Aspect
- E
- Trigger
- AR
- Elevation
- 4468 ft