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Tour du Goat Lick
Location Name:
Running Rabbit-Goat Lick
Observation date:
Monday, January 28, 2019 - 18:30
Is this an Avalanche Observation:
Yes
Observation made by:
Public
Location
Tabs
Quick Observation
Up the NW ridge and down the W ridge of Running Rabbit.
It snowed 3-5 inches at the canyon floor last night, and not much more, about 5-8 inches at higher elevations on Running Rabbit.
Winds were calm or very light all day with minimal wind-loading.
No obvious signs of instability in the surface snow other than one very small slab (15 cm thick, 1.5 m wide) that pulled out on a small test slope with a ski cut around 5500 feet on a westerly aspect.
Buried surface hoar present about 30 cm deep at mid to low elevations. Seemed most prominent between 5000-6000 feet, but this layer was quiet today with no collapses or whumpfing or cracking.
Dug a hasty pit on the west ridge at 7600 feet: HS=130 cm, ECTP13 30cm down on a 3cm thick layer of small facets, not SH up there. The early December facets were down near the ground from 30 to 0 cm. These were 4F down to F hard at the bottom. No fractures on this layer with the ECT but a deep tap test yielded DT12, sudden collapse. Poor structure here.
Did not see any recent avalanche activity on the surrounding terrain save for one D2 storm slab that ran on the south face of Running Rabbit above the rail/Hwy in Path 1163. Looked like this slid yesterday/last night as the crown was alredy partially filled in. Debris ran about 2/3rds path stopping on the bench several hundred feet above the rail.
Could still barely see the crown from what I'm thinking was the large avalanche that ran above Dickey Lake earlier this month. This was the only crown viewed over in the Flathead Range, but suspect it's the same avalanche that was reported earlier. Photo attached for a second opinion!
Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:
Travel Details
Region:
Flathead Range/Glacier National Park - John F. Stevens Canyon
Activity:
Skiing
Snowpack Details
Snowpack and Weather Details:
Avalanche Details
Avalanche Details:
Date and Time of Avalanche:
Monday, January 28, 2019 - 18:30
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Failure Plane/Weak Layer:
Within storm snow
Trigger
Trigger:
skier
Trigger Modifier:
Intentionally Triggered
Terrain
Start Zone Slope Angle:
35
Aspect:
West
Starting Elevation:
near-treeline
Size
Destructive Size:
D1 Relatively harmless to people.
Relative Size:
R1 Very Small
Crown Height:
Less than 1 ft
Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):
10ft.
Avalanche Width (Average width):
5ft.
Date and Time of Avalanche:
Monday, January 28, 2019 - 09:45
Avalanche Type:
Soft Slab
Failure Plane/Weak Layer:
Within storm snow
More information or comments about the avalanche:
Trigger
Trigger:
natural
Terrain
Start Zone Slope Angle:
35
Aspect:
South
Starting Elevation:
above-treeline
Size
Destructive Size:
D2 Could bury, injure, or kill a person.
Relative Size:
R2 Small
Avalanche Location:
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