Olympics

Generally safe avalanche conditions are expected once again on Saturday. Wet loose potential continues to decrease, but evaluate your exposure if you find yourself in wet snow or punching through the surface crust.  If the crusts are firm, ensure you have the tools to arrest a slip-and-fall before crossing steep icy slopes.  

We're in the midst of a long and anomalously warm, sunny, and dry stretch.  The snowpack in the Hurricane Ridge area lost nearly 20" since its most recent peak on Jan 9th.  An atmospheric river brought rain to the highest peaks last weekend, and now we've had several days of sunshine and mountain temperatures in the 40s and 50s.  We didn't receive any direct observations on Friday, so our most recent information is from the NPS on Thursday afternoon. Shady aspects had a firm crust. On steeper, shady slopes, the crust was several inches thick and boot-supportable.  While there was evidence of past avalanche activity, sunny slopes were patchy with a spring-like dimpled appearance after several warm days.  Some photos of the spring-like conditions are in the gallery. Of note: A large glide avalanche had released at some point over the last several days on a steep N-NW aspect on the trail to Hurricane Hill (Steep and Icy path).  Other glide avalanche areas (such as the 20th of June) did not show any glide cracks or signs of recent snowpack movement. 

A few things to keep in mind despite the Low Danger: 

• Glide avalanches have occurred in the Olympics and along the west slopes of the Cascades from Snoqualmie Pass to Mt Baker. Some of these glide avalanches looked fresh and recent.  How to avoid the problem? Look for glide cracks (brown frown) where the snowpack has opened split open, and if you see these , don't hang out below. Chunks of snow may shed from steep rock faces at any time during this warm stretch in isolated areas.  
• Wet loose avalanches could still occur in isolated areas.  Despite continued mild overnight temperatures, generally clear skies should support a nightly refreeze of snow surfaces that soften during the day. The terrain where you could trigger a wet loose avalanche is shrinking as we march ahead in this persistent mild pattern.  Use caution around extreme features, like very steep slopes below sun-soaked cliffs, chutes and rock bands, where the snow is receiving additional heating and there's a higher likelihood of triggering a wet loose avalanche. 
• The snowpack should contain multiple crusts and is unlikely to harbor any weak snow layers of concern. 
• With refreezing surfaces producing a variety of snow conditions, including firm, icy surfaces, consequences of a slide or fall on a steep icy slope.  Before you move across icy steep slopes, make sure to have the proper traction and be ready to arrest a fall.  

Whether you're out in the Hurricane Ridge area, on Mt Ellinor or somewhere else in the range,  please share a short summary and photos with us.  We'd love to know where the snow is softening, where it's staying firm, average snow depths, and overall travel conditions.  Enjoy the sunshine! 

Weather station note: We are working with the NPS to restore communications to the Hurricane Ridge weather station.  Right now, we don't have an estimated return time.