Two Teenagers killed in Alpental Valley

Accident report here .

2/25/18 Source Lake-Snow Lake Divide, Alpental Valley, Snoqualmie Pass area, WA Two teenagers were killed by a slab avalanche that released on a south aspect at 4250 ft in the Alpental Valley. The avalanche initiated just below ridgecrest at the final steep switchbacks of the summer trail to Snow Lake Divide, NE of Source Lake. NWAC staff investigating on 2/26 estimated the avalanche 350 ft wide and that it ran 500 vertical ft into mature timber with crown depths up to 36" (85 cm). The failure interface was a layer of small facets above a thin melt-freeze crust that was buried by storm snow on 2/23 (SS-U-R3-D2.5-I).

Thoughts on this? Avalanche forecast is lowered to moderate but it sounds like that persistent layer is still very sensitive. Glad I got some touring in before that layer set in.

RIP to the boys. Hope those families get through the hard times to come.

If the boys were on the summer trail then that is not the suitable ascent route in winter.  I recall a party of 2 snowshoers being killed in an avalanche there several years ago early season, NWAC report of 12/02/07. 

media.nwac.us.s3.amazonaws.com/media/fil...alanche_accident.pdf

Sad news, my condolences to the boys families who must be devastated.

If the boys were on the summer trail then that is not the suitable ascent route in winter. 

I've used the trail a number of times in the winter without problems. I just don't go when there is an avalanche warning/high danger posted.

Still, really sad. I was glad to see all my students back in class today.

.... I just don't go when there is an avalanche warning/high danger posted.

^This.

There are innumerable slopes or terrain features that can have serious avalanches depending on conditions. A surprisingly small amount of snow can generate a fatal injury. Rembering Don Hanson

Simply avoiding all high potential terrain whatever the condition is not a guarantee of safety. Awareness of terrain and conditions allows one to manage risk and make better choices.

To be fair to these snowshoers, the summer trail commits you to far less avalanche terrain than climbing up underneath chair peak basin from source lake. Although the final pitch on the summer trail is fairly steep. Huge slides come out of chair peak basin and BPC area every year and often times multiple times a year.

I think skiers are so used to the common winter ascents routes that they assume they are more safe. But in reality you are climbing up underneath some of the most intense terrain in the area where things could be triggered well over 1000 feet above you. I wonder how many snowshoers, who only take the summer route, make the same judgement about skiers who climb up underneath chair peak.

Pick your poison. What was the actual avalanche forecast for the 25th? I don't recall it being high. I believe it was considerable or moderate.

For me I feel like northwesterners haven't groked that persistent layers are unpredictable and hard to test. At one point this week NWAC lowered the forecast to moderate yet we were still getting reports of moderate sized slides naturally occurring back down to that persistent layer. If our argument is that they made a poor terrain choice and that the better alternative would be to climb the snow-lake divide via source lake we perhaps are missing the lesson to learn here.

For me I am content with riding resort until that thing strengthens. I am looking forward to getting back to normal moderate NWAC forecasts with ridge top wind concerns and storm slab. You know, normal PNW stuff.

I agree, both routes have their hazards and giant slides can and do come down through from Chair Peak. Rating for Sunday issued on Saturday was High/High/Considerable upgraded on Sunday morning to High at all elevations. Travel in that basin on either route was dangerous although I have no idea if the chair peak slide path went or not over the weekend as I wasn't there. I think you are less likely to human trigger an avalanche on the winter route but a natural one would be large enough it would kill you although again, its possible to mitigate most of this exposure with an ascent off the main slide path. The trees on that slope are all flagged though so it all goes at some point.

Having been an AT skier since 2000, I am one that has grown witness to the large influx of people venturing into the backcountry of WA, regardless of mode of travel.  I'm going out on a limb here with an assumption, but I think some people move to the area, hear about what the Cascades have to offer & want a piece of the action/fun w/out necessarily fully researching what is required.  I believe some hear from others that an activity in a certain location is completely doable/safe & then venture forward on that opinion not realizing potential consequences.  This begs the question in this case & in some others over the years: do they even know that NWAC & avalanche forecasts exist?

Regardless of generally known safe zones on high avi forecast days (which is typically known by more seasoned individuals), for the most part, many of those that get in trouble seem to be naive to the bigger picture.  As you all know, it's much more than simply buying/renting a pair of snowshoes from REI, driving up 90 & going for a leisure tour in the snow.  I don't know if this was their first time doing this, but in some cases it is, and their last, unfortunately.  Anyway, I'm not pointing any fingers; it's simply an observation I've had.  The region as a whole is growing at an enormous pace.  For this obvious reason, it seems hard to deny hearing terrible stories like this in the future. 

I think skiers are so used to the common winter ascents routes that they assume they are more safe. Bu
Pick your poison. What was the actual avalanche forecast for the 25th? I don't recall it being high. I believe it was considerable or moderate.

The Avy danger was high that day.

www.nwac.us/avalanche-forecast/avalanche...est-snoqualmie-pass/

...made under the name "vague observations for money" disappeared... etc

What does this have to do with Two Teenagers killed in Alpental Valley? Please have some respect, please do not make every thread about yourself.

This was a huge huge tragedy, my heart goes out to both families, I can only imagine the pain they are in.

  an observation that I reported on the nwac observations page  and made under the name "vague observations for money" disappeared, presumably deleted. I reported two significant Avalanches which we encountered on a tour on March 1st and I posted those observations early in the morning on March 2nd.  Since we saw fresh ski tracks near one of the Avalanches we did a quick transceiver search with no results. That was also reported.

Nwac, in my opinion, has a guide centric bias.

Maybe they didn't like my political public safety message along with my observation. I'm concerned if a government agency deleted the public record.

I sent nwac an email concerning this issue and have not heard back, or even an acknowledgement that the email was received.

Two days later we had our first skier Avy fatality here on the North Eastside Cascades.

I just saw this on the NWAC twitter site: Invalid consumer key/secret in configuration. They obviously agree that sharing reported info is always worthwhile, regardless of form. Which leads me to believe they deleted your report because they thought the whole thing was bogus, due to your snarky approach. Why don't you do something positive with all this pent up energy, like becoming an avalanche instructor and teaching teenage snowshoers about avy safety, instead of trying to prove a conspiracy that does not exist?