Wet Slabs
- Hochgebirge
- Waldgrenze
- Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
- Wahrscheinlichkeit
- Very Likely
- Größe
- 2–3
Recent Avalanches: Wet avalanches have been releasing across the region over the past few days. Glide avalanches and wet slab avalanches have been releasing in Turnagain Pass, Girdwood Valley, Summit Lake, and near Lost Lake. Some have been very large running to valley bottoms.
As the storm continues to pummel the peninsula rain and snow has fallen on a dangerous snowpack responsible for ongoing wet avalanche activity. Warm temperatures have allowed liquid water to move into the snow where it tends to run like a creek down weak layers resulting in large wet avalanches. That being said, we are not sure how much precipitation has fallen. Periods of heavy rain was reported in Seward but the Grouse Creek Snotel site is not recording precipitation above 2,000' Lake. Because of this uncertainty large wet avalanche will be more concerning closer to Seward but don't assume Lost Lake was spared from the storm. Large wet loose and wet slab avalanches will be very likely. These will happen on all aspects and could easily run into valley bottoms.
Glide avalanche activity is also expected to continue as the storm adds water to the snowpack. We have already seen large glide avalanches across the region running into valley bottoms. There are two glide cracks on Mt. Marathon we are concerned about releasing, one above the Jeep Trail and the other above Lowell Canyon. It is hard to predict when these glide cracks will release but the addition of snow and rain from this storm could increase the rate of these avalanches. If you do choose to fare this intense storm we recommend avoiding traveling on or below avalanche terrain and staying well away from runout zones.
Storm totals below are from Thursday morning to Saturday morning:
- Portage and Whitter: 25 to 30+” snow (5.38” Snow Water Equivalent (SWE)
- Girdwood: 8 to 12" snow (1.04” SWE)
- Turnagain Pass: 6 to 10" snow (0.8" SWE)
- Summit Lake: 1 to 2" snow (0.1" SWE)
- Seward/Lost Lake: 0.9" SWE from the Exit Glacier SNOTEL site. 1 to 2” snow at Primrose weather station (0.1" SWE)
(4/3/2025)
Avalanches across the whole southeast slope. Most were larger wet slabs and a few glide avalanches that likely released over the past few days.
Photo: Daniel Krueger
