01-01-2006 Good morning and happy New Year, this is Matt Murphy with the Chugach National Forest Avalanche Information Center on Sunday, January 1st at 0800. This advisory is for the Turnagain Arm area, and local variations always occur. WEATHER OBSERVATIONS The Center Ridge weather station (1800’) at Turnagain Pass is reporting a temperature of 29 degrees, a 58” snow depth, 5” of new snow, and .5” of new water for the past 24 hours. Seattle Ridge (2400’) has a temp of 29 degrees and 4” new snow for a total depth of 92”. Wind has have calmed down since yesterday evening. Current winds are light out of the northeast in Turnagain Pass. SNOWPACK A medium sized natural avalanche was observed yesterday on Penguin Ridge in Girdwood. It appears to have been a wind slab at mid elevation. No other natural or human triggered avalanches were seen or reported yesterday. On Friday, however, we found some fragile cornices on Seattle Ridge. We easily triggered these huge chunks of snow as we traveled at a safe distance to the side. These cornices had minor consequences and were not above a large face; so, they were relatively safe for stability tests. Word of mouth has reported other weak cornices elsewhere around Turnagain Pass. You should never trust a cornice, and they have been especially dangerous over the past couple of days. About 7 inches of new snow has fallen in the upper elevations over the past 48 hours. This makes for fun riding on simple terrain; however, use caution and watch out for fat pockets of snow on complex terrain like alpine ribs and gullies steeper than 35 degrees. The wind has calmed down overnight, but during the previous couple of days it did load southern and western aspects around Turnagain Pass. These aspects are where most of the usual skiing/snowboarding happens on mountains like Tincan and Sunburst. Practice the habits that will keep you alive: travel one at a time and stay spaced out, pay attention to the weather, assess the snow from the valley floor to the ridge top, a nd know how to rescue your partners. In other words, do your friends a favor and practice with your beacon.