West Slopes North

Use normal caution while traveling in avalanche terrain, including carrying and knowing how to use a transceiver, shovel and probe despite the low danger. It's not completely out of the question that you could still trigger a rogue avalanche, and it would most likely be on a small wind-drifted snow deposit in extreme alping terrain. We may receive an inch of snow Thursday night before clearing for Friday, but this isn't enough snow to impact the avalanche danger. 

If you're going to trigger an avalanche, it will probably be in a recently formed wind slab in alpine terrain. This may not pose a problem unless if you're in a high consequence area where getting knocked off your feet could send you off a cliff or get you strained through rocks or trees. The most recent report of an avalanche was on Monday, when backcountry skiers in the Cascade Pass area triggered a small wind slab in a gully (observation). Search for smooth or textured drifts and investigate how well the layer is bonded to the underlying snow before entering high consequence terrain. 

If we're lucky we'll get an inch of snow Thursday night. This may be enough to slightly soften surfaces or hide underlying slabs or snow features. We aren't expecting much wind, plus it's just not enough new snow to result in an increase in avalanche danger. In the alpine you may find soft couple-inch new slabs that could break with a human trigger, but this isn't enough snow to be a problem. Skies are clearing on Friday, winds will predominantly stay light and temperatures will remain cool. We don't expect any crusts to soften. 

Any areas with light fluffy snow are faceting (weakening) in the top foot of snow with the cold, clear weather we've had in the last week. There's also an abundance of surface hoar forming on snow surfaces.  This upper layer of the snowpack isn't much of a problem until we eventually get a large snowstorm, which could result in a large avalanche cycle on the weak snow. 

Snow surfaces vary wildly. Below treeline, bumpy crusts are the dominant surface form, and hard chunky tree bombs present a major hazard. You can still find cold dry and soft pockets of snow on all aspects at mid and upper elevations- but they're likely surrounded by firm, variable and irregular surfaces. Smooth crusts exist in some areas. Prepare for all snow varieties if you get out on Friday. Consider carrying crampons and an ice axe if you plan on heading into the alpine. 

An observer reported finding a new glide avalanche in the Boulderfield in the Baker backcountry on Wednesday- we appreciate their sharing what they saw. We've had multiple confirmations that the reported glide avalanche is about a week old. They did, however state that they'd heard a loud rumbling, so there could have been another avalanche or some sort of activity that has yet to be found, somewhere nearby. Although avalanche activity is unlikely during low danger, you never know what odd event may still happen. 

If you get out, please share with us about your day by submitting an observation HERE or on the Avy App.