Lawinenlagebericht

Olympics

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sun
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist last year abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

You can trigger a small wind slab at upper elevations. At middle and lower elevations, areas with a poor overnight refreeze maintain a low likelihood but high consequence threat of a dangerous wet avalanche. Limit your time spent on or below any large avalanche paths.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    Mild temperatures have mitigated the threat of wind slabs at all but upper elevations. The slabs are most sensitive will continue to be reactive one more day.  While most slabs should be relatively shallow, slabs could be deeper in favored locations below sharp ridge lines and cornices, at the base of cliffs, or at the top of gullies. To determine whether the slabs in your area remain reactive, you can use small test slopes, hand pits, and uptrack tests. Firm, punchy layering or shooting cracks are a sign that slabs have formed in your terrain.  Any triggered wind slab could gouge into wet mushy snow below.

    (3/21/2025)

    Signs of wind affected snow and potential wind slabs. 

    Photo: Dallas Glass

  • Wet Slabs

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

    The Crystal Mountain Resort has experienced 2 natural and 1 explosive triggered avalanche since Wednesday. Most of these ran on the January Drought Layer. The weather history in the past week between Crystal and the Olympics look eerily similar. Thus, we don't think it's out of the question for one of these to happen at Hurricane Ridge. But at this point, it would need to be at elevations below a refreezing crust, with a substantial snowpack (which is starting to exclude lower elevations as they melt out). These slides can release on their own, without warning, many days after rainfall.  Time and cooling temperatures are helping ease the danger, but we can't rule it out just yet. 

    Copious amounts of rain fell in the Olympics since the 24th. With the road closed for most of that time and limited visibility the past two days, we don't know if there was a cycle here. What we do know is if a deeper wet avalanche were to release, it would be large and possibly unsurvivable.  How to manage uncertainty like that is a personal decision, but recognize that the problem could be out there, and limiting your time on under large open slopes steeper than 35 degrees remains prudent.

    Cornices are sagging and if they fail, they could trigger a slab or loose avalanche below. 

    (3/26/2025)

    A very large wet slab avalanche was explosively triggered by Crystal Pro Patrol on Wednesday afternoon. This slide was 300-400ft wide, broke 4 to 6ft deep, and appears to have run on the old 1/10 crust. While this may be an outlier result, it does nothing to inspire confidence in the state of the snowpack. Until we get a solid refreeze at depth, there will a be chance of a large and unpredictable wet slab avalanche.

    N, 6800ft. WS-AE-D3-O

    Photo: Crystal Pro Patrol

Avalanche Discussion

While peak wet instabilities have likely passed, free water in the snowpack may still be percolating to parts unknown, and we don't fully trust it yet. Ultimately, we need a bit more time with some cold temperatures for the water deeper in the snowpack to freeze up or complete its journey. Choose simple terrain with low consequences as you navigate the wet hazard. If you find yourself on a supportable crust, shallow drifts will be smaller and easier to manage at upper elevations.

On Friday, ONP rangers found 2" of new snow that became moist by mid-morning. It is possible that this recent snow could slide easily if pushed on a steep slope. We're expecting another inch of fresh snow that could arrive at colder temperatures Friday night. Keep in mind the new snow may barely cover up old uneven debris.

On Thursday, ONP Rangers found wet snow down to 55 cm and a solid lower pack below that. They also noted broken cornices and a beat-up snowpack, with many bare spots on south-facing slopes. 

If you are out, please share what you see with us and your local backcountry community.  

This will be the last weekend of daily avalanche forecasts for the Olympics this season. 

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