Eastside Region

Low avalanche danger continues. Very firm and variable conditions remain the greatest hazard in the backcountry. Surface softening will be possible on warming sunny aspects today especially if conditions are sunnier than expected.

The major hazard in lieu of avalanches currently is the quite firm and present “slide for life” surface condition present throughout the forecast zone. Crampons (ski & boot) and ice axe are advantageous if not mandatory when pursuing alpine objectives. The last snowfall was on December 29th which is more than 2 weeks out and since then, the winds have been blowing and the sun shining. Some pleasant ski conditions as well as some minor loose wet hazards have been found on southerly aspects recently when warm temperatures and sunny skies combined. Solar input is the main driver to softening surfaces and yesterday’s cloudy conditions kept this to a minimum. With light winds today and warm temperatures, if the clouds do break and we get sunnier than expected conditions, anticipate increased warming on solar aspects, especially steeper slope angles on SW-S-SE in terrain bordered by heating rock and more sheltered from light winds. Recent small loose-wet concerns were found where snow was less consolidated and shallow and had a textured surface. Here, when warming occurred the loose moist snow was sheeting off the colder unconsolidated wintery snow on various crusts in somewhat of a “transitional” snow state (the snow turning from wintery to more spring like conditions).  The best and most supportable pseudo-corn skiing was found where the firm smooth windboard had been heated enough to provide a thin and soft surface on top of the supportable underlying snow pack.

Concerns regarding loose-wet issues would be primarily for trap-door, unsupportable surfaces or loosening and or falling rocks. You can look for this by taking off your skis off and checking boot penetration to see if things are getting unsupportable. If you’re going above boot top, probably better to avoid sunny aspects.