Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Tue
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
3 · Erheblich
Unterhalb
3 · Erheblich
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Kernpunkte

Expect a few more days of sun, warm temperatures, and elevated avalanche danger. Some areas have already hit the peak of natural avalanche activity, while others have yet to get there. There is no precise way to predict exactly where, when, and how many wet avalanches will occur. The only way to reduce risk is to avoid traveling on and under steep slopes, cornices, and rocky terrain that could shed snow. 

 

 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

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

    You can still trigger wet avalanches in steep terrain holding wet snow. Avoid traveling on steep slopes where the snow is wet, thick, deep, and unsupportable. Off-trail conditions are still quite challenging for most, with crust in the morning and wet snow in the afternoon. 

    While many slopes have already shed, natural loose snow avalanches can still be triggered by cornice fall or snow shedding from rocks and cliffs. If you start seeing activity in the terrain above as the morning heats up, anticipate seeing some snow move down the hill toward you in the hours following.

    (3/17/2024)

    Large wet avalanches have run down into very low-elevation terrain in Swift Creek near Baker Lake. Like many wet loose avalanches, they were triggered by snow shedding from steep, rock terrain higher on the slope.

  • Glide Cracks

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    2–3

    Hot and sunny weather continues to melt and weaken the upper snowpack. While avalanche activity may become more random in terms of amount and timing, there is still plenty of snow to come crashing down on the unwary. Limit your exposure to steep terrain overhead, especially where you see cracks or wrinkles in the snow that indicate where the entire snowpack is lubricated by running water and is slipping on a smooth ground surface. Cornices have also started to sag. A few have failed, and dumped large blocks of debris on the slope below.

    Don't linger under steep slopes, glide cracks, sagging cornices, or blocks of melting snow clinging to rock faces. Don't take a break in gullies that connect to avalanche terrain above. It’s worth noting that smaller avalanches or cornice falls can trigger a much larger avalanche lower on the slope. Natural avalanches are much more likely to occur in the heat of the day but can still occur at any time, especially in areas with a poor overnight refreeze.

    (3/17/2024)

    One chunk of the glide slab above the Boulderfield has already come off, but there is plenty more left.

Avalanche Discussion

It's unlikely you would find a slab of dry snow in which to trigger an avalanche except for at the highest elevations. If you do make it to the alpine, lookout for pockets of wind slab in steep terrain, especially on slopes with consequences like cliffs or rocks in the runout below. 

Over the weekend, dozens of wet loose to D2 and larger, glide slabs, cornice fall, and even some dry slab avalanches were observed in West North.  Most wet loose from the past day or two have occurred on slopes below cliffs that still had snow to shed. Many smaller cliffs and tree bands are melted out. While the likelihood of occurrence is lowering, the consequences of being in the way are the same. Some amount of avalanche activity will continue until temperatures cool and freezing levels drop. Bigger slab avalanches with deep crowns are scattered about on more northerly aspects at mid and upper elevations. While human triggering is unlikely, they show that more could release with a big enough trigger.

Layers of buried surface hoar can still be found in select locations, but were observed to have rounded out and were nearly unreactive in a pit in the Baker BC (northwest aspect at 4750'). New snow layers above the 3/9 interface have all the signs of warming in terms of snow grain metamorphism, but clear skies and strong longwave cooling overnight seem to have helped shadier aspects stay somewhat supportable. On southerly aspects, the upper snowpack is very melt-affected with alternating layers of moist rounded grains and wet melt forms down to a crust with water pooling above it.

If you're out in the snow, share your observations with us and your local backcountry community.

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