January 25, 2017

Observations

Arctic Valley backcountry:

Eagle River – South Fork – Harp area:

Skied around Harp today.  Observed eight recent natural slides on repeat offenders.  Probably the worst whumping (collapsing) and shooting cracks I have ever seen.  Everything slid to the ground/bushes as there is a very faceted basal weak layer.

Slides are hard to see, but they were EVERWHERE!  Most all north facing slopes had natural slides.

 

Arctic Valley:

We experienced a lot of whumphing and shooting cracks in Arctic Valley. So much so that we turned around even though the skies were blue and the snow quality was glorious!

Front Range – Bear Valley:

The below observation is sourced from the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center’s observations page.  It has been edited by the Anchorage Avalanche Center for clarity.

Red Flags:

No obvious signs, but active wind loading of N/NW aspects.

Weather

Broken sky, with winds from S/SE. Gusts up to 35 mph. Air Temp: 32º F.
New snow on leeward aspects. Rapid wind loading.

Snow surface

Dry snow, transported from wind. A few pockets turning into wind crust, but mostly turning into possible wind slabs on some aspects and slopes.

Snowpack

No pits. But a few hand shear & pole tests on the way. Pulling little slab up to 10 cm thickness: 29º NW aspect.

 Location: