West Slopes North

Use normal caution both in and out of avalanche terrain. You can find pockets of wind-drifted snow in alpine terrain. There is still a chance of cornice fall, glide avalanches, or snow shedding from cliffs at low and mid-elevations. Be prepared for irregular snow cover, open creeks and lakes, and other complications to mountain travel.

The avalanche danger is Low, but there are always a few places where you can find greater danger. Fresh snow has accumulated at the highest elevations and may have formed small wind drifts. Evaluate wind slab depth and bonding before heading into exposed terrain.

Glide avalanches, cornice fall, and snow shedding of cliffs and rocky terrain are still a thing given continued warm and wet conditions at low and mid elevations. Keep track of what is overhead, and don’t linger under questionable, precarious-looking snow features 

The amount of snow lost in the North Cascades in the past few weeks is startling. Significant snow cover can still be found starting at 4000’ to 5000’ depending on slope aspect and location. But much of the snow is just gone below those elevations. In appearance, the mountains look more like they do in mid-May than early February.

Heather Meadows went from a peak snow depth of 76” on January 17th down to 44” as of Friday afternoon. The primary culprits were well above-freezing temperatures combined with 5-8” of rain in the last week (see graph in the photo gallery). Other parts of West North experienced similar conditions and loss of snowpack. Observers in the Baker BC on Friday reported generally supportable snow using skis or other floatation.  About 1" of new snow fell midday at 5000'.

In general, off-trail mountain travel is a bit difficult with lots of open creeks and lakes and other exposed objects exhumed from the snowpack by heavy rain. Where snow cover is more consistent, thick, chunky avalanche debris is found below most steep slopes from a widespread natural avalanche cycle on Jan 27-28.

Snowmobile access is also challenging. Many groomed roads are mostly melted out to around 4000’ or so, but short stretches of packed snow down low can make for a difficult drive up to where continuous snow cover begins.