Avalanche forecast

East Slopes Central

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Strong and gusty winds raked the zone on Friday, likely redistributing the snow and forming fresh slabs below exposed ridges and along the sides of chutes and gullies. Keep an eye out for firmer pillow-like drifts that you want to avoid.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    1–2

    You’re likely managing freshly formed wind slabs on Saturday. While they may be hard to assess, they should be easy to spot and avoid. Visual clues like textured surfaces, drifts, cornices, and scoured slopes help point toward wind-loaded features. If you look at these slopes, you’ll probably find pillow-like slabs or maybe even firm, hollow-sounding snow. Wind slabs may be common along exposed ridges, but can also be found cross-loaded on mid-slope features, in the tops of chutes, or beneath cliffs. 

    Firmer wind slabs are harder to evaluate. Small slopes and uptrack tests often don’t react. Even skiing or riding a slope won’t necessarily give you reliable feedback. Hard slabs are nasty beasts. They can break above you and are hard to escape. Fortunately, they won’t be everywhere, and there’s plenty of lower angled and wind sheltered snow to play in.

    (12/26/2025)

    Sharp cornices and pillow-like slabs show wind loading in closed terrain at Mission Ridge Ski Area. 

    Photo: Mission RIdge Snow Safety

Avalanche Discussion

Saturday has the potential to be a beautiful day in the mountains. Showers and clouds in the morning should give way to sunshine and cold temperatures. While the sun might cause snow to fall from trees, shed off rocks, or even release a small loose avalanche, the chilly weather and short day should keep this from becoming a big problem. 

This recent storm likely dropped much more snow near Salmon la Sac and upper Icicle Creek than it did even just a bit further east. This will be even more true if a Convergence Zone targets these locations Friday night. If you find more than 12 inches of new snow, dial it back; things could be more dangerous in these areas. 

While avalanche issues will mainly be confined to the recent snow, there are still a few factors in the snowpack worth monitoring as you travel. A warm-up on 12/24 formed a thin, breakable crust in some areas. How high does this layer reach? Hard to say, but maybe up to 6000ft. This is the first crust you hit beneath the most recent snow. Other than this zipper crust, the upper snowpack seems mostly right-side-up. The lower snowpack generally consists of a series of crusts formed during the mid-December atmospheric rivers (AR) and 12/18 rain event. Mission Ridge ski patrol found weak facets among these crusts. So far, we haven’t heard of any avalanches on this layer, but information is sparse. 

Even with all the recent snow, the snowpack is still painfully thin. Riding and skiing from many trailheads is tricky at best. Snowdepths increase significantly above 4500ft. Even still, open creeks, downed trees, and random holes make travel challenging. Thanks to all those helping clear common roads from the recent storm damage!

State and local resources are working diligently to reduce the impacts of destructive storms that occurred earlier this month. We can help by respecting affected communities, complying with road closures, and adhering to ski area uphill travel policies.

Regions covered