East Slopes Central

Stay alert to warming temperatures as the day progresses, and move off of steep slopes when you begin to sink into wet snow deeper than your ankle. Consider steering widely around areas prone to hazards such as cornice fall. 

The mountains in the East Central picked up about 1-3" of snow on Sunday night. The new snow fell on well-developed crusts on east, south, and west aspects and all slopes at lower elevation. On north-facing slopes at upper elevation, it fell on weaker, near-surface faceted grains. Although the danger is Low, keep the following in mind:

1. Small loose wet avalanches could occur with daytime warming on Wednesday. If you find yourself sinking into wet snow deeper than about your ankle, it's time to move off of those aspects and seek out other slopes to ride on, or call it a day. Roller balls and wet, punchy snow are also signs that wet loose avalanches could run. Lower elevation slopes may become weaker with daytime warming, so plan to avoid those by around noon. If you notice that dry snow is becoming moist on Wednesday and see signs of loose wet avalanche such as rollerballs, it's time to move off of steep slopes.

2. Small and shallow wind slabs may still be found in alpine terrain. Steer around steeper, wind-loaded slopes if you find reactive wind slabs. You are most likely to run into very small wind slabs on the high peaks in the area. 

3. A large cornice or rock fall could be the trigger needed for a deep persistent slab avalanche. Stay aware of these hazards and attempt to steer your route well around the potential fall line for any cornice collapses. Recent observations from nearby zones speak of spradic cornice fall in the past week.  We don't have any reports of deeper avalanches since March 3 (West South Zone), although a crust with facets on or within it from Mid-January was the primary weak layer in the area in February. The most suspect areas for a deep persistent slab are shallow, rocky and unsupported slopes. Steep, sunny slopes may be of less concern due to a thick melt-freeze crust near the surface. Be intentional about where and how you travel with this snowpack structure in place. A wide range of conditions exist between mountains near the Cascade Crest and further east, with 8ft of snow over the crust/facet layer near the crest, to less than 3ft over this layer in the eastern Wenatchee Mountains.