Olympics

Colder temperatures will keep firm or breakable crusts from softening on most aspects, creating challenging travel conditions. Some steeper south-facing slopes could soften in direct sunshine. If you ascend above 6000 ft on shaded aspects, you could an isolated pocket of shallow wind-drifted snow that remains reactive.

Skies clear Thursday night, allowing temperatures to take a nose-dive and remind us what winter feels like in the Olympics. From Monday morning until early Thursday, temperatures were above freezing at Hurricane Ridge, thickening melt-freeze crusts on sun-exposed aspects and at lower elevations, while potentially weakening some snow surfaces on higher-elevation north-facing slopes. Unfortunately, the last precipitation (on 1/10) extended surficial crusts up to 6000 ft on all aspects as 0.25" of snow water equivalent fell at temperatures between 34 and 32F as rain at Hurricane Ridge proper. Older crusts may extend higher than 6000 ft in the terrain. 

If you manage to get to the highest elevations in the Olympics, you're likely to find shallow snow above crusts on shaded aspects. Recent or older redistribution may have drifted snow onto weaker snow surfaces or crusts in some areas. A weakening (faceting) 1/10 crust has created a poor snowpack struction in some of the nearby Cascades forecast zones, but that interface has not produced recent avalanches. The structure could be present in the Olympics as well and remains worth monitoring. If you find this structure, take the time to assess it before moving into consequential terrain. Avalanches on such an interface are likely to be small, but could surprise you on a very steep or poorly supported slope.

Travel concerns are mostly related to the surficial crusts that will be hard to avoid on Friday. These are likely to be edgeable and firm on S and W aspects but may be breakable trap crusts (unless these crusts have decomposed) on N and E aspects. On a firmer crust, make sure you can arrest a fall before crossing a steep slope. If you encounter a breakable crust, take your time if you are around features that increase the consequence of a fall.

Sunshine could warm steeper lower-elevation slopes to the point that crusts soften for some proto-corn on Friday, but most of these aspects have limited snowpack at this point - so don't count on this option. On shaded aspects, coverage should be reasonable above 4000 ft. Below this elevation, expect to find plenty of holes, creeks, and other obstacles that impede your travel. Hurricane Ridge proper has a largely consolidated snowpack with 45" of snow.

Older photos in the gallery show conditions a week ago, but not much has changed besides the colder temperatures.

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