Boletín de aludes

East Slopes South

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Sat
Alta montaña
2 · Moderado
Límite del bosque
1 · Débil
Bajo el límite
1 · Débil
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 6 months ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

You'll need to be close to the Cascade Crest to find enough snow for on-snow recreation, and these areas carry the potential for both loose and slab avalanches. Be sure you can travel effectively around loose snow collecting as it moves downslope. Maneuver around steep downwind slopes if you encounter cracking or recent slab avalanches in wind affected snow. Consider the consequences of being carried in a small avalanche on whatever slope you plan to descend.

Problemas de aludes

  • Loose Dry

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1–1.5

    It will be relatively easy to get cold, low-density snow moving over a crust on slopes steeper than 40 degrees. Managing a loose dry avalanche problem is all about "managing your sluff". That means more deliberate and slow travel away from terrain traps where snow will entrain down into. Pause to let sluff pass if it's growing too big, or if you need to change direction. You will increase the consequences of being knocked over by sluff if you travel in cliffy or rocky terrain. This problem is unlikely at lower elevations and south-west middle elevation slopes, as these areas generally lack consistent snow coverage.

    (2/19/2026)

    Reactive dry loose sluffing pictured here on a steep slope.

    Photo: Payton Schiff

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1–1.5

    An uptick in wind will have the potential to easily transport light, dry snow and build fresh slabs on Thursday night and Friday. Wind slabs typically form just below ridgelines and within concave terrain features (cross loading). Blowing or drifting snow will be your first easily identifiable sign that slabs are being built. Also keep an eye out for other visual and tactile clues such as textured surfaces, soft, freshly formed difts/cornices, and a change to denser feeling snow beneath your equipment. Slabs will be small, but you might find a deeper pockets of older wind drifted snow in high elevation terrain. 

    There are widespread buried weak layers within the snowpack that could be finally overloaded by slabs building on top. It's worth a minute of your time to dig small hand pits and check the bond between interfaces. A wind slab failing on one of these layers has the potential to propagate more widely than expected.

    (1/5/2026)

    Cracking in wind loaded snow is a red flag that wind slabs exist in lee terrain.

    Photo: Payton Schiff

Avalanche Discussion

Along the western edge of the zone, enough new snow has stacked up that avalanche conditions are not generally safe, but they're not generally dangerous either. There's a lot of potential for different weather inputs to create varied and elevated avalanche hazard, and Friday is ultimately not the day to step directly out into consequential terrain before doing some research.

Within the snowpack, there is a complex of weak layers, including buried surface hoar and faceted snow around a hard crust formed on 02/07. This crust is generally supportable to skis, but not boots or snowmobiles. These layers are likely buried around 13-19 inches deep near the Crest. At the moment, all this new snow sitting on top is soft and lacks the cohesion to create the right slab characteristics for a persistent slab avalanche problem, but the weak layers are there underneath, waiting to be tested.

This return to winter is slowly improving travel conditions, but unfortunately for the East South zone, you still won't find enough snow for on-snow recreation unless you're at Sno Parks immediately adjacent to the Cascade Crest, such as Pinegrass or Bumping Lake. Even in these parts, low coverage abound especially at lower elevations and on southerly slopes. Many other hazards, such as downed locks, rocks, random holes, and open creeks, exist at all elevations. Give yourself some extra time and take precautions when riding in these conditions. Some hazards may be obscured by new snow.

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