East Slopes South

Hazards may be found even in low danger. Pay attention to the potential breakdown of surface crusts or softening snow surfaces, expecting wet loose avalanches to follow suit. Steer around steep high elevation W-facing slopes if you find isolated shallow wind slabs 6" or deeper.

NWAC forecaster Katie Warren traveled in the Ahtanum Meadows area on Tuesday. She encountered a surprising amount of cloud cover and even disorienting visibility conditions. The snow surface was capped by a 2cm melt-freeze crust on all aspects traveled. This thickness of crust may not be supportable to boots. Skiers might benefit from ski crampons to negotiate side-hilling. Katie found 20-24" of dry snow beneath the melt-freeze crust and above the Valentine's crust with rounds and crusts alternating below that. Test results were not notable. However, the dry snow just below upper snowpack has a remote chance of destabilizing if the sun combines with light winds long enough to break down the surface crust. It's difficult to predict when or where this may occur, but you would be wise to watch for this possibility. Signs might include sticky snow that becomes unsupportable to your preferred form of floatation. If this breakdown occurs, natural or human-triggered wet loose avalanches become possible, so limit your exposure to slopes 35 degrees and steeper (even if above you). 

Light snow fell above 4000 ft on Tuesday with only a dusting of snow accumulating above the crust in the Ahtanum Meadows areas. North of Bumping Lake, you might find 1-2" of snow accumulating above the crust. E winds may have drifted shallow slabs onto upper elevation slopes on the western half of the compass. These might catch you off guard in extreme terrain features if you find an isolated pocket 6" or deeper.

Spring-like conditions exist below 4500 ft. Be prepared to cool your snow machine frequently given anticipated freeze-thaw conditions at these elevations. You might be able to trigger a small wet loose avalanche on sunny slopes at these elevations once the snow surface softens.

If you get out into the mountains of the East South, let us know what you see by submitting an observation!