Hatcher Pass

Weeks without snow and recent strong winds have left Hatcher Pass in a desperate state.

Travel over snow is challenging and will involve breakable crusts, loose facets, and dense, windblown snow. 

The danger is LOW, and avalanches are unlikely, but hard snow and sliding conditions pose additional hazards. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

We have an app for easy access to avalanche information and observations on the go. You can download the app for free in the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store.

It has been a remarkably dry, windy, and cold start to the winter. It's been two weeks since the last measurable snowfall, and it has snowed less than a foot in over two months. 

During that time, daylight has waned, winds have increased, and the snowpack has taken a beating. Periods of extreme winds with gusts near 80 mph have wreaked havoc on our thin, weak snowpack, stripping many slopes and leaving the mountains resembling their October form.

If you're heading up to the pass to travel over snow, expect to find a wide variety of conditions and textures on any given slope. Surfaces range from grass to loose facets, breakable crusts, and boilerplate wind slabs. Rocks are everywhere. Every flavor of breakable crusts and supportable wind slab will be lying on old faceted snow. Triggering a small but dense slab or lens of snow is unlikely, but if anywhere, it would be in steep terrain where these slabs are thin or unsupported.

Hard snow conditions exist. If you're able to link together a few firm, smooth turns, it will likely be on steep, upper-elevation terrain where a fall could result in a slide and injury. Now is a great time to travel cautiously and consider carrying an ice axe and crampons. Before committing to steep terrain, consider the consequences of even a very small avalanche. 

Recent Avalanches:

There have been no natural or human-triggered avalanches observed since the weekend of December 6-7. See all recent observations here.