Persistent Slabs
- Alpine
- Treeline
- Below treeline
- Likelihood
- Likely
- Size
- 2–3
Recent avalanches: The pattern of very large remotely triggered avalanches continued yesterday. A skier triggered an avalanche on the Repeat Offender slide path on Seattle Ridge, which was witnessed from Tincan Common. In addition, we received reports of a large remotely triggered avalanche in Lynx Creek that occurred on Sunday. There were also notable avalanches on Tincan Common, Eddie's Headwall, Main Bowl, and near the weather station on Seattle Ridge on Sunday. Luckily, as far as we know, no one has been injured or buried in any of these avalanches.
The dangerous snowpack setup that caused all these recent avalanches is going to take time to heal. There is still a good chance of triggering a very large avalanche 1 to 3' deep on a layer of facets that formed during the December cold spell. The size of these avalanches and the fact that many of them are being triggered remotely, from low-angle terrain adjacent to steeper slopes, make them extra scary. With this setup, accidentally triggering an avalanche from low-angle terrain below a steep slope and being buried in the runout zone is a very real hazard.
The only way to safely manage this situation is to stay off steep slopes, avoid runout zones of overhead avalanche paths, and be very mindful of terrain traps that could cause a deep burial even from a small avalanche. Patience is very important with this type of persistent weak layer, because they often take weeks or longer to become less dangerous. The major storm we are expecting on Thursday could stress the snowpack to the point where we see widespread natural avalanches and potentially help reset the snowpack. We will have to wait and see, but in the meantime, we can't stress enough how dangerous this setup is.
(1/12/2026) Very large skier-triggered avalanche on Repeat Offender that was remotely triggered Monday afternoon.
