With 3 to 6" of new snow yesterday and steady east winds, human triggered avalanches around a foot deep are likely in wind loaded areas. In addition, buried weak layers 2 to 3' deep in the snowpack could cause larger and more dangerous avalanches. To avoid these avalanche problems, you can always stick to low angle terrain and give the snowpack some time to adjust to the recent storm. Glide avalanches are also a major concern, you can limit your exposure by identifying overhead glide cracks and minimizing time underneath them.
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The Powderhound in Girdwood will be donating a portion of sales from their White Friday sales event this Friday to the Friends of the Chugach Avalanche Center. Support a local business, avalanche center, and get a good deal all in one stop!
The Thanksgiving storm brought 3 to 6" of new snow (0.25" of water) to the Summit Lake area, along with steady east winds in the 20 mph range at ridgetops. In areas where the new snow was blown into wind slabs, triggering an avalanche around a foot deep is likely today. Keep an eye out for red flags like shooting cracks as a sign of unstable avalanche conditions.
There are several buried weak layers of surface hoar in the snowpack that could cause larger and more dangerous avalanches. These weak layers are now buried about 2 to 3' deep and could cause very large and wide propagating avalanches that run out into low elevation terrain. Now that the storm has ended, natural avalanches are less likely on these buried weak layers, but human triggered avalanches remain possible and could be very dangerous. The best way to avoid these problems is to stay in simple, lower angle terrain and avoid runout zones of overhead avalanche paths.
This type of weak layer can be triggered remotely, meaning you could trigger an avalanche from above, below, or to the sides of steeper slopes. There were multiple remote triggered avalanches in the Summit Lake area last weekend on these buried weak layers, which is a clear sign that this remains a concern in Summit Lake.
(11/23/2025)
Glide avalanches continue to release throughout the forecast zone and are highly unpredictable. These avalanches release to the ground and are very destructive and dangerous to be involved with. There is no way to predict when glide avalanches are going to release, so the best way to minimize your exposure is to limit the amount of time you spend underneath glide cracks. It is important to continuously scan the slopes above you to look for new glide cracks forming.
