Lawinenlagebericht

West Slopes North

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

Temperatures aren't cooling enough and clouds are trapping heat in, so wet avalanche concerns remain. There's a low likelihood that you'll trigger an avalanche or a large natural avalanche comes down from above, but there's a high consequence if you get caught in one. Steer around gaping glide cracks and large cornices, and don't linger on slopes beneath them. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Glide Cracks

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1.5–2.5

    The rapid warming produced wet loose avalanches, a few wet slabs, and then we saw glide avalanches and cornice failures that produced subsequent avalanches. The last known activity was on Monday, when a cornice failure in the Baker backcountry produced a large avalanche on a north-facing slope at about 5000ft. This was on the final day of the heat wave. We suspect more avalanches happened that we just don't know about, although in general this warm period produced far fewer avalanches than we expected we'd see. 

    Surface freezes on Wednesday night weren't as good as Tuesday night, since temperatures were slightly warmer and cloud cover trapped heat. A minimal freeze is expected for Friday. Without a surface crust, you could still trigger small wet loose avalanches. If you're sinking into soft wet snow stay away from steep slopes.  Glide avalanches may fail up to a few days after a warming event, so continue to avoid terrain beneath large glide cracks, or travel through the area quickly. The same goes for large, saggy cornices. 

    Lower elevations are already so impacted by melting and have likely already fully run their course with wet snow avalanche problems. 

    An example of glide cracks and the wrinkles that form below. Avoid slopes beneath these areas. 

Avalanche Discussion

Freezing levels will rise a little higher on Friday, to about 5500ft. Thicker cloud cover is expected, so there could be a good amount of moistening on all aspects.  Temperatures will finally cool a little into Saturday, and we should be getting some snow. 

Snowlines are rapidly receding in the zone. You'll have to go well above 3000ft to start finding consistent snow cover. Many holes are sneakily hidden beneath a thin layer of snow.

If you get out, please share your observations with us and the local backcountry community. This is even more valuable now that we're getting into the spring and folks are making their way to more distant objectives in the longer daylight hours. Sharing details from areas that are less frequently traveled is so beneficial to the community and the forecast for the zone. 

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