Hyak Avalanched Today!!

Hard to tell from the photos, but it looks more like a debris slide or earth flow - not an avalanche.

In the NWAC pics you can see a slump in the ground below the crown in the snow. I don't exactly have a PhD in geomorphology but, it sure looks like the slope underneath gave way and brought all the snow with it. That ditch/creek running down the face of Hyak probably didn't help things.

That's what it looks like. I think it's technically a landslide, yeah?

Not sure what slump you're seeing. There is a bench a short way below the crown... that is the cat track I think.

I'm seeing a crown. the snow pack was weak at the base. water perked and lubricated the whole mess . A scouring to be sure. Avalanche to the ground I'd say.

I saw it go from my front yard!

In the NWAC pics you can see a slump in the ground below the crown in the snow. I don't exactly have a PhD in geomorphology but, it sure looks like the slope underneath gave way and brought all the snow with it.

These pictures are interesting to me:

www.flickr.com/photos/hyak/3178242094/in/set-72157606217542480/
www.flickr.com/photos/hyak/3177666905/in/set-72157606217542480/
www.flickr.com/photos/wsdot/3177642935/i...t-72157612242253091/

I think you're right that the ground has given way just below the fracture line. That's why the tower is leaning over. The tower was standing straight immediately after the slide, then it began to list.

Which is the chicken and which is the egg? Did the snow begin to slide and cause the ground to give way, or did the ground give way and cause the snow to fracture? Is this a new class of slide, a true composite of snow and soil?

I think both factors played a part but my guess is that it started in the soil.