Mt Hood

Avalanche conditions are generally safe - but still keep an eye out for small, isolated pockets of wind-blown snow adjacent to ridgelines and at upper elevations. You don’t need a large avalanche to push you into an open crevasse or send you pinballing through rocks and cliffs. 

Thursday will be a rinse and repeat of Wednesday. The only difference will be increasing cloud cover and winds ahead of our next system that rolls into the region Friday morning.

If you head out, you may find a surface crust extending to 8000 ft on the south side of the mountain. Above this, you’ll find softer snow and isolated pockets of wind-drifted snow on leeward aspects. The forecast team thinks these wind-drifted pockets should be gaining strength, but still be sure to complete your own assessment before committing too heavily wind-loaded terrain, especially in areas where a small avalanche can have a less-than-ideal outcome.

On Wednesday, NWAC forecasters traveled in the Timberline area and found 3-4 inches of new snow above 7500 ft. This new snow helped improve travel conditions at upper elevations, but we still found icy travel in scoured areas. Having traction and a self-arrest tool was still helpful. 

Tuesday's strong, consistent SW winds certainly left its mark on upper elevation leeward slopes. Along the upper White River Canyon, we found wind deposits to be 6-15 inches deep. We observed some isolated cracking but generally found these slabs to be stubborn and gaining strength with the warm temperatures. The warm, sunny skies also helped produce a couple of small, wet loose avalanches on steep, south-facing slopes directly below rock and cliff bands. However, the bigger hazard in these areas were the chucks of rime shedding off of sunny cliffs. Make sure to wear a helmet and travel early to mitigate this hazard. 

Lower elevations have struggled to build a meaningful snowpack so far. So keep an eye out for shallowly buried objects that could ruin the rest of your season. 

If you get up on the mountain, let us know what you see by submitting a public observation.