Hatcher Pass

A week has passed since the last storm on 2/22, which brought 11 inches of new snow to the area and up to 1″ of SWE. Since then we have had a mild weather pattern with light winds, ample sunshine and cold temperatures. 2/24 saw an additional 4-5″ new snow.

Sunday was a popular day up on the pass with a couple hundred recreationists taking to the slopes in search of powder turns. According to the State Parks data counter, over 200+ people recreated on Sunday 2/25. People took advantage of the great weather, traveling on an array of different terrain and aspects. Within the forecast area, there were only two skier triggered avalanches, one on Eldorado and one on Gold Chord. No one was caught or carried. The Eldorado avalanche appeared to be a small pocket of lingering slab that entrained loose dry snow below.

Just beyond our forecast area a few larger and more destructive avalanches caught snowmachiners by surprise. One of the incidents involved a burial with no injuries. Please reference observations for more details on this week’s avalanches. Note that forecasters conducted a crown profile and did not get propagation on this slab/weak layer.

Skier triggered Gold Chord 2/25/24 Soft slab approximately 25’ with a roughly 3’ crown, running about 500’. No parties were caught, carried or injured.

02/25/24 Eldorado Bowl skiier triggered avalanche

With a lack of precipitation and decreased winds, not much has affected the overall snowpack this week except for temperature. Single digit temperatures at mid and upper elevations have caused some faceting in the snowpack, which has improved riding conditions and degraded the buried crusts from the previous week of warm temperatures 2/12-19. There is low confidence with forecasted winds in Hatcher Pass recently. Despite strong winds in the Mat-Su valley, we have not had any additional loading or winds capable of building slabs since the 2/22 storm. On northerly aspects, crusts below the storm snow have been more difficult to find, especially above 3500 feet. Buried crusts and the weak snow that may surround them are worth paying attention to with future loading events. Cold temperatures have also assisted most lingering slabs to lose density and become unconsolidated.

Remember, on low hazard days, avalanches are unlikely but not impossible. Despite low likelihood, it may be possible to trigger a lingering slab or loose dry avalanches on terrain steeper than 40° especially in confining drainage features with lingering crusts below. Staying out of terrain traps, descending one at a time, and utilizing safe zones is always good practice.