March 19th, 2014 Hankin Backcountry ski area. Update from the H-E trail crew. A class 2.5 avalanche, in the main bowl above Hankin Hut, was triggered by a small cornice drop. The chunk of cornice slid down the upper 35 degree slope accumulating loose snow and where the convex slope angle increased to 45 degrees a fracture line propagated 40 metres across the slope and approx 40cm deep. The debris carried across the lower (20 degree) slope of the main bowl stopping just short of the last steep roll. Debris was 30 metres wide and approx 2.5 metres deep (deepest point). A small, class 1 avalanche, (skier triggered/ski cut the slope), pulled out of Hut Chute 1 and ran to bottom of steep section (start zone 40 degrees, stopped as slope angle lessened to 30 degrees). Fracture line at the top was 10 to 15 cm deep and 8 metres long. The lee side of all these chutes are wind loaded and pull out easily. Temperature at 4700 feet was -5 in the morning and warmed to -2. Snow squalls, light flurries all day, winds gusting to moderate out of the SW. Still snowing at the end of the day and reports of more snow today. Expect some wind loading on this aspect as well. Probably a good time for heads up when skiing in the Alpine at Hankin.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 22:36:20 +0000
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