Haines

Quick report

Snow Conditions

hard, windAffected, crusty

As expected, there's a variable depth snowpack below 4000', 30-150cm in most places, deeper in drainages and along ridges ascending either side of the saddle. Poorly bonded wind slabs on aspects paralleling the river have been releasing naturally over the last month, ranging D1-D2 at 3300'-3800'. A relatively thin snowpack, coupled with various wind and warming events has created a touchy situation along the mid to upper elevation band in this area. No signs of weakness while traveling as the surface crust remains supportive and seems to be bridging instabilities along travel routes. Don't be fooled, buried weaknesses still exist. Most can be felt with a probe and are easily identified. Multiple tests failed during isolation on these punchy faceted layers at and above treeline. Other problems are harder to identify, such as recently loaded surface hoar on solar slopes below 3500'. Wind features and scoured surfaces straddle opposite sides of alpine ridges above 3500'. Originally posted on Haines Avalanche by Conrad on 27/1/2018