Sunburst

We got a first look at the snowpack in the alpine following this week's storm. We saw evidence of a natural avalanche cycle, and found both the new/old interface and the December facet layer to be reactive in stability tests at 3200'.  There was a breakable crust up to around 1400', 10" new snow at 2200', and 1.5-2' new snow at 3200'. The new snow layer in the middle elevation band (~1800-2500') had a series of crusts that will be something to pay attention to moving forward. 

The Dec. facet layer appears to be in a sort of transition phase where it is slowly getting more difficult to trigger, but can still produce big avalanches. We are working with limited data following this week's storm, so we're still being really careful around steep slopes.

Our two layers of interest in Turnagain Pass are the 1/25 interface (new snow/old snow) and the December facet layer. 

The 1/25 interface is buried anywhere from 8-10" deep at 2000' up to 2' deep at 3000' and higher. This layer produced stubborn but unstable results in a pit at 3200' (ECTP29), and another group reported a collapse on the layer around 2100' elevation.

The December facet layer was buried about 4' deep at 3200'. This produced unstable results in the pit (PST53/110 End, DT18, DT22), but continues to become more difficult to initiate. The continued snowfall and warm temps are moving this layer in the right direction, but for now it remains a big concern. We still have limited info following this week's storm, and with higher uncertainty and potential to trigger big avalanches we were traveling pretty conservatively.