Mt Hood

Lawinenprobleme

• 

  Wind Slabs

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Hochgebirge
  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze

  Wahrscheinlichkeit

  Likely

  Größe

  1–2

  Wind slabs 1-3 ft thick may stay reactive to your weight on Wednesday. These slabs may range from hard to soft and should appear as somewhat textured and rounded. You’ll find these slabs lurking in specific areas such as the leeward side of ridges and moraines, under cornices, at the top of chutes/couloirs, and on convex alpine slopes. 

  Although you won’t want to search these things out, just consider avoiding slopes that fit this description. The good news is that you can use visual clues to help you identify slopes of concern. Look for blowing snow, cornice growth, ripples, or rounded pillows at the snow surface to identify where the wind has been at work. Pump the brakes and avoid steep slopes if you see obvious signs of instability such as shooting cracks under your skis/sled or notice snow that sounds hollow like a drum. You can easily avoid this problem by sticking to more sheltered terrain out of the wind zone. 

   

  

• 

  Loose Wet

  N

  NE

  E

  SE

  S

  SW

  W

  NW

  • Hochgebirge
  • Waldgrenze
  • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze

  Wahrscheinlichkeit

  Possible

  Größe

  1–1.5

  The sun is forecasted to come out, so you may encounter moist snow developing on solar aspects (W-SW-S-SE). The current upper snowpack is quite dry, so the sun may be a shock for the upper snowpack on a steep solar slopes. Rollerballs or pinwheels are precursors of wet loose avalanches. So think about moving to more shaded slopes out of the sun once you start seeing these signs. 

  On more shaded aspects (NW-N-NE-E), you will likely still encounter dry unconsolidated snow. In these areas dry loose sloughs may still be your bigger hazard in steep terrain. With this problem, have a plan before skiing into steeper rolls and make sure the run out is clean before committing to your line.