Bulletin d’avalanche

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

Thu
Alpin
1 · Faible
Limite forestière
1 · Faible
Sous la limite
1 · Faible
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Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 5 years ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

The snowpack is mostly stable but expect a wide range of surface conditions, largely dependent on aspect and time of day. On steep south facing slopes, mushy wet snow can be found by mid-day. Loose wet avalanches could be triggered in these areas, so take note of conditions as the day progresses.

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–1.5

    Warm temperatures and sun will quickly melt down the overnight refreeze on Wednesday. Check the thickness and supportability of the surface crust as the day progresses. If you're sinking past your ankle boot top with skis on, you could trigger a wet loose avalanche on steep slopes. Consider using quick, informal tests to check how easily the snow slides or entrains before committing to larger, steep slopes. Be cautious on very steep slopes with exposed rocks, where the snowpack may be shallow, or near terrain traps.

    Glide cracks have opened up within the zone (see photo below). These may release at seemingly random times of the day or night. Your best travel technique is to avoid potential runout zones of any features with glide cracks above. You may find areas of weak, wet, and unsupportive snow at low elevations and around trees or rocks. These areas could present a travel hazard for falling into holes.

    (1/22/2022)

    Small wet loose avalanche off steep south facing terrain on Lichtenberg Mtn.

    Photo: Matt Primomo

Avalanche Discussion

Observers on Tuesday found nice, smooth corn skiing on south facing slopes just before noon. Some very small loose wet slides could be initiated on steeper SE facing slopes, but were not entraining much snow and only involved the upper few inches of snow on the surface.  Cold, dry snow can be found over a stout crust on higher elevation, shaded slopes. This dry snow is becoming weaker and faceted with time, which makes for nice ski conditions for now. Snow in the trees is icy and can be challenging to travel through safely on skis. Last weekend, observers reported a handful of wet avalanches on steep sunny slopes. A couple of notable slides on the southeast face of Lichtenberg Mtn were big enough to bury a person and may have gouged into older layers of snow. Glide cracks have slowly opened up, with the last notable glide avalanches occurring over the weekend (in Snoqualmie zone).

The snowpack has seen significant wetting from multiple rain events and sun in the past 10 days. Much of the snowpack is well transitioned to melt forms, and each day with similar weather has helped to stabilize it. This combined with the short days and weak January sun is keeping the snowpack from falling apart like it might in March with similar temperatures. 

Régions couvertes