Important: AK DOT will be shooting artillery along the Penguin ridge from 10am-12pm Tuesday, March 24, 2015. Travel in the area will be unsafe during this time!
Observations – Turnagain Arm – Penguin Peak
Obvious signs of instability:
- None
Weather:
- Mostly sunny skies with some passing cumulus clouds later in the day (no precip)
- Light southerly wind
- Alpine temps in the mid to upper 20s
Surface conditions:
- No snow at trailhead, on ATV approach trail, and Penguin ridge trail until ~500′ elevation
- 500-2250′ debris from D3.5 natural avalanche that requires booting
- 2250-3000′ debris from D3.5 natural avalanche that is smooth enough for skinning through and around, supportable to breakable melt-freeze crust in areas without debris
- 3000-4305′ a few cm’s of soft, dry, wind-buffed powder with some patches of exposed, hard, older wind slab
- several cm’s of soft, dry, settled powder in the north bowl from 4305′-3500′
- firm wind packed snow from 3500-2500′ in the north bowl
Discussion:
Looking down on the approach at ~500′ from the tip toe of the debris from the D3.5 natural avalanche that likely occurred sometime early last week and ripped down from a west aspect at ~3500′:
Looking up from the tip toe of the debris:
More views of the debris carnage:
Snowpit on belay at ~4050′, 348 degree northerly aspect, 39 degree slope, 162cm height of snow, ECTN5 155cm (7cm down from surface), ECTN15 140cm (22cm down from surface), CT8 Q3 155cm, CT18 Q3 140cm
:
Brian “Randoman” Harder (skimolife.com) skinning the ridge to the summit where we would drop the VW bug size cornice onto the face below with no result on initial impact and pulling out a thin wind slab several hundred feet down after launching off a rock band and creating a crater through the snowpack to the ground where it impacted the slope:
Looking down the ridge:
Roped up and on belay for safe cornice dropping:
The backcountry bomb:
Reaping the rewards of our extensive snowpack assessment:
Skiing the sunny side back to the car: