Lawinenlagebericht

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sat
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Kernpunkte

Warm temperatures will continue and maintain a chance for wet avalanches. Avoid steep slopes and stay well out from under areas where slides could come from above. On the heels of a major rain event, temperatures will be slow to cool.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

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

    You could trigger wet avalanches on steep slopes holding weak, unsupportive wet snow. While wet loose avalanches will be most common, there is a chance for large to very large wet slab or glide avalanches. These avalanches often give little warning. If you see glide cracks opening on slopes, stay well away from them.  Stay out from under large slopes that are 35 degrees and steeper.  Don't linger or stop in runout zones of big avalanche paths. We believe the natural activity is tapering off, though they still occurred on Thursday. We're uncertain exactly how easy it will be to trigger slides on Friday. It's been over a week since any of our staff has been able to access the Stevens Pass zone. Information is limited and uncertainty is high.

    (1/12/2022)

    The lower track of a very large D3 avalanche. This ran sometime around January 10th in a path known as East Camp near Highway 2 Stevens Pass. Rock Mountain, south aspect.

    Photo: WSDOT Harlan Shepard

Avalanche Discussion

Highway 2 Stevens Pass opened on Thursday after being closed for a week. On Wednesday, WSDOT forecasters reported multiple very large (D3) wet avalanches in the Highway 2, Stevens Pass corridor. They reported another D3 in the East Camp path that ran to the valley floor on a south aspect of Rock Mtn, likely on Monday (see photos). Rain began in the early hours of the 11th, wetting a previously dry snowpack including significant new snow from the past week. Forecasters at Stevens Pass Mountain Resort measured 82" of snow accumulation in 72 hours between January 5 and 7th.

There is minimal access to most of the zone, weather stations have been down, and information is limited. Infrastructure and highway crews are still recovering from the historic storm last week. On the 7th, WSDOT crews reported triggering D3.5 avalanches on the pass with control work, which left debris 60ft high over the road. On the 6th, they reported multiple natural avalanches D2.5-D3 in size that hit the closed highway west of the pass. Once the storm ended, WSDOT reported over 208 debris piles up to 15 feet deep on Highway 2 in Tumwater Canyon alone. Several slides ran into the river and ten of them were very large. Prior to the storm on the 6-8th, observers noted a couple of buried layers of large, faceted stellars and surface hoar. These layers are probably 4-5ft below the surface now and could be weak layers for slab avalanches.

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