Lawinenlagebericht

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 2 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

You could trigger an avalanche in wind affected snow large enough to bury you. There are a number of visual clues indicating wind transport that will help you identify these areas before you commit to a steep slope. Obvious signs of instability are cracking, collapsing, and recent slab avalanches.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Recently fallen low density snow is easily carried around by the wind, and wind coming from the east has a tendency to load surprising slopes and catch backcountry travelers off guard. Wednesday won't start out particularly windy but will pick up in the afternoon. Any slabs that may have formed in previous days could still have some heightened sensitivity and be larger.

    Wind-loaded snow is often found just below ridgelines and in cross-loaded gullies. Red flags are cracks shooting out from your skis or sled and recent slab avalanches in similar terrain. Visual clues such as cornice development, hollow sounding or rippled snow surfaces, and blowing snow will help direct you to where wind-loaded snow may be lurking.

    (2/9/2025)

    Groups found pockets of reactive slabs in the White River Canyon on Sunday. 

    Photo: Kyle Wyatt

Avalanche Discussion

Wednesday will be another cold day despite sunny skies. With this kind of weather, the ramifications of a backcountry emergency quickly increase, so be prepared with plenty of layers and hand warmers. Exposure to the sun may cause small loose snow avalanches to release, but the temperatures will moderate this problem throughout the day.

The January Drought Layer (JDL)  has been a prominent upper snowpack marker and a popular topic of conservation in our backcountry community these past weeks. You can dig down 2-3 ft and find this weak, sugary snow in most locations around Mt Hood. However, we have typically found it to be weakest on N-E aspects at lower and middle elevations. While we haven't seen any confirmed avalanches on it, it is worth tracking, especially if you head into more data sparse areas like the north side of Mt Hood or further east near Lookout Mountain. Up north in the West and East South zones, we have seen propagating test scores, whumpfs, and a few avalanches.

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