East Slopes North

While conditions are generally safe, there's a chance that you could trigger small avalanches on very steep slopes at upper elevations. With a light dusting of new snow and some wind, keep an eye out for isolated areas that could have enough new snow to produce very small avalanches. Snow could slide easily on slick crusts.

Expect a couple of inches of snow between Thursday night and Friday with periods of wind just strong enough for light wind transport. Storm totals at the beginning of the week were 4-8" with more snow near and west of Washington Pass. The snow fell on a crust formed by sun and warm temperatures followed by rain to almost 7,000ft. While small and unlikely, there's a chance that you could trigger very small wind slab or loose avalanches. You may find enough snow that slides easily on steep slopes above treeline, especially where it rests on a slick crust. Use small, test slopes to check how easily the snow slides before committing to bigger terrain. These avalanches could be consequential if they push you into terrain traps like cliffs or rocks. 

Between February 3 and 8th, almost 2 feet of snow accumulated near Washington Pass. Observers reported a number of large (up to size D3) avalanches in the zone during this time. Crowns were mostly in north through east-facing terrain, below cliff bands or in other wind-loaded terrain. One human-triggered slide near the Lyall Glacier stepped down to a recent interface and broke into a large avalanche on an east aspect at 6,400ft.  Observers near Harts Pass reported a couple of wide avalanches. One was about 2 ft deep and ran on older, faceted snow in the middle of the snowpack where it was relatively shallow (7ft) and weak.