Alaska — Three hikers were caught and carried in a very large avalanche on the north side of Peak 3 inside Alaska’s Chugach State Park on the afternoon of Saturday April 25th.
Multiple people sustained injuries, but there were no fatalities. Another group recreating in the area responded to the scene, along with Alaska Mountain Rescue Group, Alaska State Troopers, and Chugach State Park employees.
The avalanche occurred on a steep, wind-loaded slope. It was 3 to 6 feet deep on average, about 450 feet wide, and ran approximately 1200 vertical feet. The debris was up to 13feet deep. This incident could have very easily resulted in deaths and the folks at Chugach Avalanche Center are very happy that everyone was able to return home.
Read the full Chugach Avalanche Center observation summary below.
Chugach Avalanche Center Observation Summary:
We investigated a large hiker-triggered avalanche on the north side of Peak 3, and found deep and hard wind slabs, and a deeper slab on top of impressive depth hoar. Alaska Mountain Rescue Group was asked to respond to an avalanche triggered by hikers on the north side of Peak 3. While the hikers sustained injuries, this incident could have resulted in full burials and fatalities.
Multiple members of a hiking party were carried by this avalanche after triggering it near the top of the ridge, and it buried over 100 yards of Powerline trail. Good samaritans recreating in the valley below responded, along with Alaska State Troopers, Chugach State Park, and many more agencies and organizations.
Investigation of the avalanche indicated it released to the ground on large chained depth hoar facets, with the sides of the path releasing either on the same depth hoar layer, or on facets below a hard wind slab (finger to knife hard). The entire snowpack was moist, and blocky debris over 1 to 2 meters deep was common. It ran from about 3500ft to below 2400ft. While there we saw an older (1 day old?) large avalanche immediately to east, and active wind loading and variable precipitation.
This avalanche was limited in size by not having a very wide starting zone, but it was still large enough to deeply bury people and cause significant injuries. At the end of the day we felt like there is an unusually dangerous snowpack here, and have our fingers crossed nobody else gets injured or buried.
