Northwest Avalanche Center

Observation: Public

All Observations

Observation Details

Name:
Charlie Hagedorn
Observation Date:
May 8, 2022
Submitted:
May 8, 2022
Zone or Region:
Snoqualmie Pass
Activity:
Skiing/Snowboarding
Location:
Snoqualmie Pass

Triggered Avalanches

Did you trigger any avalanches? 
Yes
Was it intentional? 
Yes
Avalanche Type:
Wet Loose
Size:
Size 1: Relatively harmless to people
Elevation:
3500'
Aspect:
E
Comments:
New snow (5-10 cm) released easily in ski cuts on Parachute at Summit Central toward the end of the day. Probably would have released even-more easily earlier in the day. Roughly size 1.5. Once moving, snow descended to the flats below the run's steeper pitch. This is of particular note because a climbing group had chosen to practice self-arrests in the runout earlier in the day. Had a skier descended above that group, wet slides might have been initiated before visual contact was established. Runout was verified by sight, sound, and calling-out to be clear of people before attempting a gentle ski cut and skiing the slope.

Signs of Unstable Snow

None reported

Observations

Looking around the Pass, there were ample signs of D1 loose-dry and loose-wet naturals. Skiing at the upper elevations appeared, from tracks, to be quite good, with few/no other skier-triggered slides observed.

Notes/comments in image captions.

Media

Skier-triggered loose-wet on Parachute. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Cornices on Granite. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Point releases on Silver. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Loose Slides on Low. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Natural slides on Lundin. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Loose slides on Denny. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
Tracks at Alpental. Image CC-BY-NC-SA 4.0
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