Lawinenlagebericht

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Mon
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Kernpunkte

Daytime warming will drive avalanche conditions, increasing the chance of cornice falls and wet avalanches. Falling cornices could have surprising results including triggering very large avalanches. Keep timing and overhead hazards in mind, and be ready to move to shadier and lower-angle terrain as temperatures heat up. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    Early in the day surfaces should be frozen and many crusts are now supportable. Expect east aspects to begin warming up first, and then south and west later in the day. Look for rollerballs, tree bombs, and feel for heavy wet snow as indicators that things are starting to happen. Slides may become large on steep or rocky slopes as the day progresses and warming continues to break down the crusts in the upper part of the snowpack. Use timing to your advantage, and be ready to steer clear of certain steep slopes.

    (3/15/2023)

    Large wet loose avalanche that likely ran on March 13 or 14th.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

Expect sun and warmer temperatures to become the main influencer of our snow and avalanche conditions this weekend. We could see anomalous and hard-to-predict events like cornice falls or even glide avalanches. When traveling on ridges, keep a wide distance between yourself and the edge of any suspected cornice. Minimize your exposure to being below cornices and make sure to stop and re-gropup in places free of these overhead hazards. On Saturday, observers reported a round of mostly small wet avalanches on steep, south aspects.

On Friday, Matt Primomo went to the east side of the Chiwaukum Range on the eastern boundary of the zone. He saw a round of small wet loose slides occurring on east and south aspects. Most slopes were still cold in the morning with fresh surface hoar in many areas, but temperatures warmed by the afternoon. He found the Valentines Day Crust about 3ft below the surface on a NE aspect at 5,600ft, and weak snow underneath it all the way to the MLK Crust. This may have been the weak layer responsible for some of the deep slab avalanches noted below.

An impressive deep slab avalanche was noted from the West Face of North Chiwaukum on Thursday. This may have run on the 10th or 11th, similar to other reported D3 avalanches. A very large D3 natural avalanche occurred on the north side of Rock Mtn, likely on the 10th.  The crown was at 6,750ft, NE-NW, estimated at 6-10ft deep, 500ft wide and it ran approximately 1800 vertical feet. Two similar D3 avalanches were reported from NW aspects above treeline on Cannon Mtn in the neighboring East Central zone. These were suspected to have run on the Valentine's Day Crust but we haven't been able to confirm this. Between 2/28-3/6 we received reports of triggered avalanches, up to size D2, that likely ran on the Valentines Day crust, including one on a SSW aspect below Skyline Lake. 

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