Mt Hood

Slide for life conditions will make travel hazardous in the morning due to a widespread bulletproof crust.  Sunshine should break down these crusts on some southerly slopes to produce good riding conditions. Very warm temperatures will weaken cornices that you should avoid lingering below.

After 11 days of predominantly above-freezing temperatures, the Mt. Hood snowpack is well suited to handle more unseasonably warm temperatures with freezing levels up to 11,000 to 12,000 ft this weekend. It looks like April on Mt. Hood and the hazards on Saturday ring of springtime:

1. Slide for life conditions exist during the morning hours at all elevations. Above 7000 ft, crusts are unlikely to soften due to the presence of bulletproof blue water ice. Consider your ability to self-arrest and the tools you have to do so before traveling on an icy slope.
2. Large cornices remain a hazard as warm temperatures continue to weaken them. Give them a wide birth on the ridges as you travel and don't linger on the slopes beneath them.
3. You can trigger small wet loose avalanches on steep SW-S-SE slopes once the crusts break down. These avalanches are primarily a concern near terrain traps where they could push you into rocks, trees, creek beds, or over a cliff.
4. Rime ice continues to melt off rocks in the alpine and upper part of Mt. Hood. These chunks of rime ice can accelerate as it slides down the firm surface crusts and could easily injure and possibly kill a person.
5. Glide cracks have opened up and pull away from rocky outcrop. Note the locations of existing large open cracks and limit your time below similar terrain features and anywhere smooth bedrock exists underneath the snowpack. Glide avalanches take the entire snowpack with them and with over 80" of snow on the ground, they could be quite large.

Mt. Hood picked up 2" of water equivalent January 19-20; most of that water fell as rain or freezing rain into above treeline terrain. Up to several inches of dry snow fell at the tail end of the storm. Strong W, then NNW winds through early Friday blew or sublimated much of that snow off the mountain. NWAC forecaster Andrew Kiefer reported challenging travel conditions due to the extensive crusts in the Timberline area. He found sastrugi on top of water and rime ice, but no wind slabs. He also observed a recent natural cornice fall. You can read his full report here.