West Slopes South

We’re off and running for the 2022-2023 season! If you are traveling in the mountains on Saturday, you’ll likely find some new snow but generally safe avalanche conditions. Be sure you're prepared to deal with early-season hazards and a relatively shallow snowpack. If you’re going to find unstable pockets of snow, it will likely be on a volcano or a high-elevation area prone to wind.

As you might expect, observations have been limited as we begin our season and transition from fall to winter. On Friday, NWAC forecasters near Crystal Mountain found increasing snow depths while ascending in elevation, with a noticeable change above ~5400’. Generally, around 2-3 feet of snow was found and light snowfall began around 11:30, some of which came as graupel. Two prominent markers in the snowpack (the 11/4 and 11/22 interfaces) were noted with relatively strong snow between them. Close to 6” of recent snow sits atop the 11/22 interface from a previous storm. This snowpack structure pairs fairly well with conditions found at Paradise earlier this week.  We are anticipating Friday's storm to deliver around 3" of new snow to much of the zone by Saturday morning.

The recent rounds of stormy weather may have helped to incrementally build our early season snowpack but shouldn’t result in much avalanche hazard for Saturday. That doesn’t mean that everything is free and easy. On Thursday night, Camp Muir recorded a gust as high as 90 mph. On Friday, the fresh snowfall accompanied at times, gusty winds. So we can’t rule out the possibility that you might find a few isolated pockets of wind-drifted snow to steer around near ridgelines or rocky terrain features on Saturday. Any potential avalanches should be small and confined to the new snow.

Additionally, early season hazards such as open creeks or shallowly buried rocks, stumps, or bushes could result in injury or worse if they catch you off guard. At a minimum, your mountain travel could be difficult as you navigate these obstacles. As we get into Saturday night and Sunday, a more significant storm is set to impact the zone and should increase avalanche potential. Be leery if this storm arrives early and you see rapidly changing conditions in the mountains during the day on Saturday. 

As we continue to ramp up for the season, please help us out by submitting observations and sending us pictures about what you’re seeing out there. Thanks in advance and we're looking forward to another great season together!