Bulletin d’avalanche

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
Voir sur la carte

Danger d’avalanche

Sun
Alpin
2 · Modéré
Limite forestière
2 · Modéré
Sous la limite
2 · Modéré
Open full map
Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 4 years ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Expect the sun and warm daytime temperatures to create wet loose avalanche danger. Although chances are declining, you could still trigger a large and surprising slab avalanche due to lingering instabilities with the storm snow. Be sure to use safe travel techniques and limit your exposure to steep avalanche terrain with increased consequences of a slide.

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–2

    Warming temperatures and sun are expected to moisten snow surfaces on slopes just south of east through west. If you see rollerballs or moist snow surfaces, consider moving to lower-angled or more shaded terrain. Wet avalanches could come down from steep slopes, and you could trigger loose slides on them. Look for clues like rollerballs, and fresh fan shaped slides during the day. With a hefty amount of new snow, slides could become large on larger features.

    (2/10/2023)

    Loose wet avalanches in steep, rocky terrain just west of Skyline road.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–2

    The new snow is bonding to old snow surfaces, but theres still a chance you could trigger a slab that's a couple feet deep. Slopes with large cornices above may be the more likely places to trigger a slab. These may occur in obviously wind loaded areas, but they could also happen on steep unsupported slopes that don't appear heavily affected by the wind. Use well supported terrain, and make sure to use safe travel techniques exposing only one person at a time to the hazard. 

    We're at the point when you may not get direct signs of instability before triggering a slide, but if you did it could be surprising. While you could probably travel on many slopes safely on Saturday, keep this in mind and do your best to not get surprised or worse. 

    (2/10/2023)

    Large slab on a mid-slope bench above Wellington.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

Observers reported that snow surfaces became moist on all aspects below about 4,200ft on Friday. A round of small wet loose avalanches occurred, and we expect another round of them could happen on Saturday. Late on the 9th, a report of a ski triggered slab came in. This occurred in very steep terrain off a treed ridgeline. Though the new snow may be healing, chances remain to trigger large slides on Saturday.

You could expect to find around 2ft of new storm snow from the past week. A fairly widespread storm slab cycle occurred with a burst of heavier snowfall and strong winds in the morning of the 8th. Control work at the ski area that day produced widespread storm slab results, 3 were reported to have run down to the MLK crust. Observers also reported large, natural slab avalanches on steep, leeward slopes, just below ridges that saw wind loading including Windy Ridge and the Rooster Comb, above Lake Susan Jane. A couple of these also were suspected to have run on the MLK crust. During the day, riders triggered a smaller slab avalanche In steep rocky terrain in Lanham Creek and on a ridge just outside of the Stevens Pass Resort boundary in Hollywood bowl, SE, 5,200ft. 

Régions couvertes