Lawinenlagebericht

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Fri
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
3 · Erheblich
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Up to gale force wind will transport snow onto a wider swath of terrain and test the strength of weak snow buried below. Long shooting cracks, audible collapses, or natural avalanches are key indicators of dangerous avalanche conditions. Your best course of action is to give steep, open slopes some breathing room and to find lower-angle, sheltered terrain to explore instead.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Wind has been, and will continue to drive this problem. Since the recent storm, wind slab avalanches have failed within weak snow above the 2/7 melt-freeze crust. Some of these avalanches were remotely triggered and propagated widely during avalanche control work at Mission Ridge. Moderate-strong wind blew through the zone on Wednesday, and speeds are forecasted to increase even more on Thursday. That means you will encounter more terrain that is wind-affected and overloading these weak layers buried within. A change to denser or harder feeling snow underneath your equipment is a good indication that it has been influenced by the wind.

    All steep open terrain is suspect with poor snowpack structure. Avalanches could be triggered from below or next to steep slopes. Small, steep test slopes or convex features can help gauge the reactivity of the upper snowpack. You can dig small hand pits and pull on blocks of snow to see how easily overlaying slabs break free from weak snow underneath. But given snowpack variability, be cautious about extrapolating your results too broadly.  Instead, dial it back by seeking out low-angle terrain protected from the wind...if you can...

    (2/23/2026)

    On east aspects, very steep test slopes would produce stubborn small slabs that failed within weak snow over the 2/8 crust. 

    Photo: Katie Warren

Avalanche Discussion

Wind continues to be the name of the game in East Central. Speeds picked up on Wednesday and will only continue to do so through the rest of the week. This is due to a strong jet moving wind perpendicular to the WA Cascades, which is creating a sturdy downslope effect along the east slopes.

Although Thursday will be mostly sunny, the wind should largely ward off a wet loose avalanche cycle. That being said, if you're traveling around on solar aspects and notice the snow getting warm and sticky, put small wet loose avalanches on your radar. Chunks of snow falling from cliffs and rollerballs releasing naturally or from your equipment are the first signs to look out for.

There is 8-12 inches of snow over old weak layers, including the 2/13 buried surface hoar and facets over the 2/7 crust lower down. In some locations, these layers may be easy to identify. If you're at lower elevations, there could just be a crust and no weak snow at all. An NWAC forecaster out in the Salmon La Sac area on Tuesday experienced multiple loud collapses and was able to trigger a small pocket of wind loaded snow, however they couldn't locate buried surface hoar. In the Wenatchee Mountains, Mission Ridge Ski Patrol has triggered several small and large wind slabs on buried surface hoar and faceted snow over the first few days of the week. We don't currently have more updated info, which creates more uncertainty around an already tricky problem to forecast for. This problem is likely to stick around for a while, so settle in to finding fun skiing and riding on lower angle slopes.

It would be great to think the recent snow magically fixed our travel woes, but it didn’t. The snowpack is still painfully thin, particularly in the trees, at lower elevations, and on southerly slopes. Creeks, holes, and logs make routes meandering or even impassable. Give yourself time to deal with our interminable "early season" conditions, and know that some hazards may be obscured by new snow.

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