Lawinenlagebericht

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Kernpunkte

The snowpack may take another day to recover from the heavy rain. Wet avalanches should still be at the forefront of your mind, so if you get out steer clear of large slopes, gullies and rock slabs that could continue to shed snow. Travel conditions may be unpleasant with a punchy, saturated snowpack.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wet Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    1.5–2

    As the rain turns to showers, water will still be draining into and out from the snowpack. Wet slabs could be large and entrain heavy debris and mud as they flow downhill. Aside from wet slabs, avalanches may encompass a variety of all things wet on Wednesday including wet loose slides, glide slabs, and debris flows.  Because of the shallow snowpack, any slide is likely to scour to ground. For glides, they may be more location dependent. Glide slabs may peel from smooth rocks or grassy areas. Often the same areas year after year will produce them, so use that local knowledge. 

    The mid and upper elevation slopes may take longer to change over and stabilize. At lower elevations the snowpack is dwindling, though you could still find an isolated slope with continuous snow cover to watch out for. If you find yourself sinking deep into wet, unconsolidated snow, than don't go onto, or linger underneath large features. 

    (12/5/2023)

    A natural loose wet avalanche ran to the ground and entrained dirt adjacent to Skyline Lake. 5,100ft, SSE

    Photo: Josh Hirshberg

Avalanche Discussion

Freezing levels may have hit a peak Tuesday morning above the highest peaks in the zone (9,000ft). The pass picked up 3.75" of rain since Monday morning, and we've lost about a foot of total snow depth.

Josh Hirshberg reported a number of slides while driving over the pass, one was a D1.5 wet loose that ran on the ground and entrained mud in the dirty debris from one of the Skyline Chutes on the north and west side of the pass. Another was a mud slide west of Old Faithful which brought a mature tree onto the highway. In many of the Camp Paths above Berne, waterfalls were seen raging down the gullies. Travel may continue to be difficult with a weak, saturated and/or punchy snowpack on Wednesday.

Last weekend, observers found very reactive instabilities beneath the recent storm snow. On Saturday many widespread natural soft slabs were reported, along with widespread shooting cracks and whumphing. Most of the slides ran on a weak interface including surface hoar and/or facets over a slick crust, and propagated impressive distances across entire features. The whumphing collapses came with reports of notable drops, and may be from the crust failing on weaker snow beneath it. Most avalanches were in the D1-1.5 range, with a D2 reported.

If you get out, please let us know what you found by submitting an observation.

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