West Slopes South

Variable, often crusty, and sometimes icy snow surfaces make travel rugged. Give yourself some extra time to deal with all the travel issues. Fortunately, these same frozen slopes will keep the avalanche issue to a minimum.

Brrrr. This weekend looks cold, especially first thing in the mornings. A little warm air may push its way into the south and western portions of the zone. This could help steeper sunny slopes on Mt Saint Helens or possibly Adams or Rainier soften just a bit. However, despite the sunshine, cold temperatures and a gentle breeze should keep most other locations frozen solid. 

Right now the first words out of most travelers’ mouths have more to do with snow surface conditions than avalanche concerns. Under the trees, frozen tree bombs make it feel like a jagged rocky landscape. Out in the open, smooth icy slopes and occasionally breakable crusts aren’t much better. Down on Mt Hood, the surface is so firm, it’s “slide for life” conditions. Here, even a simple slip could turn into a long uncontrollable fall. Toss in some open creeks, frozen old tracks, and rock-solid piles of avalanche debris and you have the makings of a hard travel day. 

If your adventures take you to the highest reaches of our forecast elevations (8000ft) or beyond, you may find drier snow and a few isolated wind-blown pockets. It’s hard to say how much, if any snow is still available to be blown around at these upper elevations. Northerly winds are a bit atypical for us. You could encounter wind loaded pockets in some very strange places. As to what’s going on above our forecast zone on the volcanoes… it’s anyone’s guess. Don’t assume the Low avalanche danger extends into these higher places. 

With the spring-like weather and generally firm surface, you won’t be surprised that there’s not much going on in the snowpack. Over the past week, the recent snow (1/10-11) has bonded well to the underlying 1/10 crust. Some observations suggest weak snow under this stout crust. However, you have to saw through it to ever see it fail. Our focus is on the snow surface as we eagerly await the next storm.