Avalanche

Ptarmigan Peak

Avalanche.org observerChugach State Park
View on map
Observation photo 1Observation photo 2Observation photo 3

Quick report

Signs of heavy sluffing down the main line of the S from the previous day. We booted up sluff scoured line until crossing over into unscoured snow near the top of the S. Noticed in hand pits and pulling on the snow with arms while booting that the top foot came off easily in a slab.

Avalanche

Skiing down the S as the first skier, a few turns from the top, I triggered a soft slab about 1 ft deep and 40 ft wide. I easily skied to the side out of the way where it ran down the line. The rest of the party continued to cut loose other smaller width slabs of same depth until we were in the gulley that had been scoured from previous sluffs. Slide was not big enough to bury, but enough to knock a skier off their feet if they got in the way and moved fast and quickly picked up more volume in the dry, new snow. Left a firm before surface underneath once sluffed away.