Hugh Conway Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 holy smokes! Was that today? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ARob Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Crazy! Got those photos up quick! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Conway Posted January 7, 2009 Author Share Posted January 7, 2009 yes (photos aren't mine) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
korup Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Two words I didn't ever expect to see in the same sentence. Holy crap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crillz Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Unbelievabllllllllllle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Forkin A Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevino Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 I can't believe I was skiing there last weekend and its all gone! holy shit. hopefully my friend will still have a job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted January 7, 2009 Share Posted January 7, 2009 Well at least the snowpack will be consolidated now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stefan Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 wowza Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 http://flickr.com/photos/wsdot/3177302991/in/set-72157612242253091/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I hope the big Oly beer can is OK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
selkirk Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Bugger, it looks like it's going to be another winter where the avy/mudslide forecast is stay home and drink Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I was gonna say, looks more like a debris flow than an avalanche - looks like WSDOT beat me to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rad Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 The fracture in the first photo suggests the lift poles would have been taken out, but then the chairs can still be seen on the upper portion of cable, which suggests the lift is still intact. The WSDOT angle doesn't address this. Anyone have more data? Â Oh, Mtn Gods, please don't wipe out Alpental, please take Summit West instead! Heck, we'll even throw in most of Central... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 There is a lift tower down in one of the pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMcJizzy Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I was gonna say, looks more like a debris flow than an avalanche - looks like WSDOT beat me to it. Â But, both the top and at least the upper 1/2 of the western side are defined by a snow-slab fracture. The upper 1/2 of the sliding surface appears to be planar. The NWAC has been stating that 100% climax slab avalanches are probable given the dynamics of this snow pack. So I would say that it was a slab avalanche with the decollement being a wet relatively smooth grassy surface with possibly a surface hoar layer immediately above. The debris could be expected whenever such a large wet strata is involved in a structural failure. Â I would also add, that in a failure of this sort, as wether it is a slab causing a debris flow, or a mud flow triggering a slab avalanche is mostly arguing semantics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 It looks like the crater in the slide scar is at least a couple meters deep into the ground in this shot: Â I have a hard time thinking even a climax slide avalanche excavates that deep? It's a pretty poor quality photo though. Â Â Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CollinWoods Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 Thats just awsome. Im suposed to have some SAR training up there this weekend but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMcJizzy Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I can't really discern much in any of the photos. I think in reality what it probably could best be described as: a sub-snow pack mudflow (almost a joukuloup sinso-stricto)releasing somewhere on the eastern portion, which caused a large slab avalanche to propagate to the west, and uphill. ****************************************************************** Â When I was in my twenties, the term joukuloup was confined to sub glacial debri torrents presumably caused by volcanic and hydro-thermal heat sources. I understand that the usage of the term is now much more liberal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-spotter Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I have never heard the term jökulhlaup used for anything but glacial outburst floods eg. the Ape Lake jökulhlaup down the Noieck River. there is no glacier and indeed, very little evidence of water flow in the debris which appears to mix snow and mud.  I agree with you though, a debris slide beginning under the snow and carrying the overlying snowpack with it with secondary slab failure propagating from that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkMcJizzy Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I was refering to the term in it's sub-snow pack context. And I still can't tell what consistancy the debris have. Â Regardless, it is really cool ( as long as no one got hurt ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BirdDog Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 (edited) I hope the big Oly beer can is OK.  Oly beer can is OK. Anyone remember when it was a Heidleberg can?  http://www.nwac.us/photos/current/1-7-09,%20Hyak%20ski%20area%20slide%20at%20Snoq%20Pass,%20lift%20towers%20destroyed,%20cabins%20damaged,%20WSDOT%20Don%20Whitehouse.jpg    Edited January 8, 2009 by Feck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danhelmstadter Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 i like this picture - Â down to lift served skiing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlpineK Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 It's going to take a while before that lift tower gets fixed. Â I do remember the Heidleberg can. Maybe while they're fixing the lift they can repaint a PBR can. Too bad Rainier and Oly aren't even NW beers any more. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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