Lawinenlagebericht

Snoqualmie Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Wed
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 6 months ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Despite the lower avalanche danger and seemingly benign weather, large, surprising avalanches remain possible, especially in rocky complex terrain. Take time to discuss the potential risks and consequences of one of these slides with your team before stepping into steep slopes.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–2

    A lack of recent avalanches, cracking, and collapsing is quite compelling. However, the underlying weak snowpack structure hasn’t changed much. This often signals we’re entering a particularly tricky time where avalanches are becoming hard to trigger, but the consequences remain the same. Snow profiles and snowpack tests can’t tell us if any one slope is safe, but they can highlight the issue.

    Tuesday’s bit of rain probably won’t be enough to tip the scales with this problem, but it likely won’t help matters much either. If you’re going to step into avalanche terrain, consider small, planar, and lower consequence slopes that are often less likely to slide. Recognize, it’s a calculated risk, and it may be impossible to distinguish safe terrain from a potentially dangerous slope.

    (3/1/2026)

    On this SW aspect at 4330', I got a ECTP21 on the facets above the 2/7 crust. This is different than what we have seen for test results on shaded aspects.

    Photo: Andy Harrington

Avalanche Discussion

Tuesday will be a bit of a transition day in the mountains. Cloudy skies, mild temperatures, and a bit of precipitation probably won’t sway the snowpack much in either direction. Rain should fall to near the tops of the highest peaks in the morning before the snowline slowly starts dropping. On higher elevation shaded slopes, rain could cause any lingering pockets of cold, dry snow to become unstable and slide downhill. These wet loose avalanches should be rare and isolated to middle and upper elevation northerly aspects. Elsewhere, the minimal rain would need to break down a new crust before it could cause any avalanches. This seems unlikely given the small amount of precipitation. 

Clear skies in the evening should help wet snow from Monday freeze. How thick and burly this new surface crust becomes depends on several variables. So, expect it to vary by aspect, elevation, and even slope angle. 

We’ve been talking about the same persistent weak layers for over two weeks now. A layer of surface hoar and/or facets was buried on shaded aspects on 2/13. Slightly deeper, sugary facets sit over a stout crust on all aspects. Both of these layers seem most prominent above about 4000ft. We haven’t seen any notable activity on these layers in over a week. However, a similar snowpack structure exists in nearly all nearby zones. These areas have seen recent avalanche activity. What to make of that? Hard to say. If you just walk around, it might feel very safe and stable, but often snow profiles show the opposite. 

One thing we can’t seem to stop talking about is coverage. Sadly, that seems to be our real persistent problem this year. Random holes, open creeks, downed logs, and patches of bare ground continue to make travel convoluted and sometimes dangerous.

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