Lawinenlagebericht

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Fri
Hochgebirge
1 · Gering
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Avalanche danger is generally low. Despite the low danger, wet loose avalanches may still occur as steep slopes directly facing the sun get wet. Any natural or human triggered wet avalanches would only be a couple inches or so deep, and slide on the underlying crust. If natural avalanches are happening, avoid similar steep terrain and slopes beneath where the avalanche could run to. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    1

    A warm, sunny day will lead to moistening snow surfaces, rollerballs, and maybe subsequent wet loose avalanches. Even if there isn't much natural activity, if you venture out onto a steep slope, you could trigger a wet loose avalanche, which may run easily on the old snow crust. The new snow layer is only about 2-4 inches deep, so avalanches will remain shallow. 

    I traveled in the Skyline vicinity on Wednesday. I ventured onto one steep, sunny slope and skied across the top of it, resulting in a small wet avalanche, 2 inches deep. It was almost slablike, in that it had a crown and propagated across the feature. The debris pile was about a foot deep. If you are on large, smooth steep surfaces facing the sun you might be able to trigger more of these on Thursday. I didn't see any natural avalanches. 

    Keep tabs on the sun and which steep slopes are directly facing it, as these surfaces will likely moisten and surface layers could lose cohesion quickly. Depending on your timing and snow conditions, you may not get much activity, or maybe a lot of slopes will have shallow slides. They'll probably be more common near rock patches.

    If snow starts getting wet and soft around you, expect that you could trigger an avalanche on a steep slope. Wet snow could slide easily on the underlying smooth crust. If there are natural avalanches running, avoid traveling on steep slopes or beneath them where an avalanche could hit you. 

    (3/5/2025)

    A human-triggered wet avalanche, that was a bit of a mix between wet loose and a slab, as it had a crown and propagated across the feature. The slab had a depth of 2" (the depth of the new snow), which ran on the underlying crust. Stormy's area. 

    WS-ASc-D1-I

    Photo: Irene Henninger

Avalanche Discussion

Your largest hazard on Thursday will likely be firm, old snow surfaces beneath the new snow layer, only a couple inches deep. At lower elevations, these surfaces are very textured, and old debris chunks are not something you'd want to encounter either. Expect a crust in the morning on slopes that were impacted by the sun on Wednesday. There's a small chance that at upper elevations, small, isolated new wind drifts could avalanche with a human trigger. During my outing I saw small amounts of drifting along ridgelines, but they were all unreactive.

A hazard that I found during my outing on Wednesday on the Skyline trail was several treacherous, deep trenches dug into the road and surrounding slopes, many of which were beneath steep, blind rolls where skiers and riders cut switchbacks in the open meadow. If you're skiing or riding down you could easily fall into one by accident and break your leg. Especially when we get more low-density snow on top that could disguise these trenches they could present even more of a hazard. If you dig trenches - or maybe snow caves (it's hard to tell what they were), please fill them in after you're done with them, especially in high-use areas. 

From Feb. 21-25th, the Stevens Pass zone received over 5 inches of water, 1.5 inches of which was snow above 4000ft on Tuesday. On the 26th there were very large crowns and cornice failures seen from the recent storm, including one above 6000ft on Rock Mountain and Nason Ridge. There was also a widespread wet loose avalanche cycle during the 26th, with continued wet avalanches for several days after. Now, old wet layers exist, coated by crusts, and our current avalanche concerns are limited to the shallow new snow layer for the moment. 

If you make it into the backcountry please share with us what you find by submitting an observation HERE or on the Avy app. 

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