Hatcher Pass

We received approximate 12″ of new snow on 10/26 at 3500′.  The new snow has overloaded weaker, basal, faceted snow and is producing human triggered avalanches. Please review the most recent observations HERE.

It’s easy to think that we have not received enough snow this early in the season to produce dangerous avalanches. Today we toured up to Hatch Common where we witnessed one rider remotely trigger an avalanche on descent and we remotely triggered another avalanche from flat terrain. Both of these avalanches could easily have injured a person and one of them could have buried or killed a person if someone had been caught and carried. An hour later, after ascending further uphill, we encountered another backcountry traveler who remotely triggered a similarly sized avalanche in Aril Bowl. Later in the day we received another report of a remotely triggered avalanche on peak 4068.

With cold temperatures, the avalanche problem will slowly improve throughout the week.

The sensitive nature of remotely triggered avalanches is something to take very seriously. Remotely triggered avalanches will be possible to trigger from flat terrain, from below slopes, and on adjacent slopes.  It will be possible to trigger avalanches from a long distance away, and on the other side of terrain features. Avalanches will have the ability to wrap around terrain features. You could easily trigger an avalanche that does not affect you, but harms other people nearby, as you may not be aware of their presence.

If you head into the backcountry this week, use careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route-finding and conservative decision making. It’s game on!

Hatch Common , N, 4200′. Remotely triggered avalanche. 1-3 feet deep x 150´wide x 150′ vertical run.