Main Bowl

Quick report

Glide activity remains widespread on both sides of Turnagain Pass after the storm. Although no other red flags were observed on my tour, recent loading and two dubious layers in my snow pit gave me pause before committing to alpine terrain. Additionally, surface conditions of Seattle Ridge and Main Bowl include widespread surface hoar and transportable snow. Observed a few glide cracks on NW aspects of Main Bowl, SE aspects across Seattle Creek, and a recent glide avalanche on Eddies SW spines. As noted in previous observations, there is also a natural D2 slab avalanche visible on the front-side of Seattle Ridge. I did not find other red flags on my tour.

Weather

Air Temp

22

Cloud Cover

few

Wind Loading

none

Snow Avail For Transport

large amounts

Snowpack

The information below is from a pit on the NW slope of Main Bowl at 2200'. I found a deep and generally right-side-up snowpack with two concerning layers. The first of these is a layer of decomposing 3-4 mm buried surface hoar ~60 cm below the surface. An ECT yielded ECTN23 on this layer. The second concerning layer consists of 1 mm, rounding facets 80 cm below the surface. These facets overlay a hefty melt freeze crust from late October and yielded no results in an ECT. Observed 3-4 mm surface hoar on Seattle Ridge and Main Bowl, distribution appears to be widespread.

Avalanche

Size

D2

Aspect

SW

Trigger

N

Elevation

2150 ft