Boletín de aludes

West Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Wed
Alta montaña
1 · Débil
Límite del bosque
1 · Débil
Bajo el límite
1 · Débil
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 5 years ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

This spring-like January weather pattern continues Tuesday and with it generally safe avalanche conditions. If you’re going to find unstable wet snow, it’s most likely to be on steep sunny slopes around rocks and cliffs. If you plan to travel in terrain like this, don’t let one of these small slides catch you off guard.

Problemas de aludes

  • Loose Wet

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1

    With the spring-like weather, we’re experiencing a very spring-time avalanche hazard. Avalanche danger is extremely low in the morning due to a solid overnight freeze. As the sun and warm temperatures soften the surface, loose wet avalanches become possible in a few isolated areas, especially near rocks and cliffs. Checking how much the snow surface has softened can help you anticipate possible loose wet avalanches. If you find your boot sinks into the snow deeper than your ankle (4 inches) you may be able to trigger a loose wet slide. Even though they are small, these avalanches can still hurt you if they push you over a cliff or bury you deeply in a gully.

    (1/24/2022)

    Checking how deep you sink into the snow with your boot is a great way to monitor changing surface snow conditions. Sinking past your ankle, like this, should let you know its time to go find more frozen snow. 

    Photo: Andy Harrington

Avalanche Discussion

This long stretch of warm weather formed a generally strong upper snowpack. A stout melt-freeze crust at the surface may produce icy and possibly dangerous travel in the morning. Warm temperatures and sunshine should allow this surface to soften during the day. High clouds and moderate winds may help to delay softening in some areas. On more shaded slopes, pockets of recent storm snow from Thursday (1/20) may be found between icy bumps. Surfaces not receiving direct sunshine have not softened significantly in the past few days. 

On Thursday, an NWAC forecaster traveling in the Crystal backcountry found that the snow surface remained frozen on wind-exposed slopes despite the sunshine. However, once out of the wind, the snow softened by mid-day. Below the surface crust, the upper snowpack consisted of alternating layers of large grain spring-like snow (melt forms) and strong thin crusts. Currently, we don’t have any layers of concern in the snowpack. 

With this extended warm and sunny period, snow will occasionally shed from rocks or cornices may fall down. Fortunately, most cornices are smaller than normal for this time of year. Even still, be mindful of the terrain above you, and don’t hang out below cornices and steep slopes where you see crevasse-like glide cracks.

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