Lawinenlagebericht

Mt Hood

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Welcome back to the 2024-25 avalanche forecast season! We are stoked for winter and hope you are too. Now let's get to it...

You can trigger avalanches that are 1-2 ft thick on wind loaded slopes at upper elevations on Wednesday. Steer around steep slopes that appear freshly drifted and textured. Shooting cracks, hard over soft layering, and recent avalanches are clear signs of instability that you should not ignore. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    These recent storms have built 1-2 ft thick wind slabs across upper elevations in the zone. NWAC forecasters found these slabs to be quite reactive and easily triggered on Tuesday. These slabs should start gaining strength with the high pressure, but it may take a few days for these to fully heal. With that, consider giving steep slopes some space if they appear rounded and textured. 

    Look for these slabs to linger on lee-side ridges and moraines, below cornices, and near rock and cliff bands. You can use visual clues like blowing snow or textured drifts to help you pinpoint and avoid this avalanche problem. Cracks shooting out from your skis or feet are clear indicators that you found an unstable slab.  

    (11/26/2024)

    An example of a small skier-triggered wind slab on Tuesday. 

    East aspect, 7000 ft

    Photo: Joe Dellaporta

Avalanche Discussion

Wow, what an incredible November so far! Snowpack depths range from 5-6 ft above 5500 ft across the zone currently. In general, above 5500’, you’ll find 5-7 inches of recent snow that sits over a crust. However, once you start losing some elevation into the trees, you’ll quickly watch the snowpack shrink and roughen up. Tread lightly as there are still plenty of shallowly buried objects to hit at these elevations. 

On Tuesday, we took advantage of the first sunny day in a while to travel up to 8500 ft on the south side. At the trailhead, we observed 5 inches of new snow sitting over the recent rain crust. As we started skinning our eyes quickly gravitated to the crown of a large natural avalanche that occurred on West Crater Rim. Once above treeline,  we unsurprisingly found more wind affected surfaces and reactive wind slabs. We were able to intentionally trigger a couple small slabs on test slopes.  These types of observations kept our terrain selection simple.

This next week will bring a drying trend to the region. Backcountry travelers will likely want to push to the upper mountain with the nice weather, but remember observations are sparse during the early season. Ease into terrain slowly and be sure to make your own snowpack assessments as you travel.

Uphill travel at a closed ski resort: 1. Follow the ski area’s uphill travel policy. 2. Avalanche mitigation may not have occurred. You should approach the terrain as if it were any other backcountry slope. 3. Numerous other hazards may exist, including electrical lines, snowmaking, heavy machinery, and other motorized traffic. 4. Ski patrol and other ski area staff are not there to respond to emergencies. Travelers should be self-sufficient.

If you get out, let us know what you see by submitting a public observation!

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