Bulletin d’avalanche

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

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

Points saillants

Light snow and wind will form fresh slabs at middle and upper elevations. You can trigger avalanches just below ridges and in open terrain where the wind forms stiffer snow drifts. If you find actively blowing snow, thick drifted pillows, or cracks shooting through the snow, stick to slopes less than 35 degrees. 

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Look for clues of the danger like recent avalanches and cracks shooting through the snow. After early morning, you may not see actively blowing snow. Instead, you can also look and feel for stiffer, wind-textured drifts that break or crack easily. Steer around convex roll-overs and slopes over 35 degrees where you find these indicators of the danger.

    On Friday night, southwesterly wind will form fresh wind slabs on leeward slopes. On many slopes, recently buried interfaces are weak with facets and surface hoar. The snow could slide easily, even in the wind-sheltered terrain. Test the snow on small, inconsequential terrain before moving to larger slopes. 

    (1/1/2025)

    Riders triggered small avalanches, 1.5 feet deep, on a steep convex slope. Moonlight area. ESE, 5,300ft

Avalanche Discussion

Over the past 2 days, light snow fall has added up to 2-3," with another 1-2" possible by Saturday afternoon. We don't anticipate low elevation, sheltered terrain to receive enough new snow to be a problem. However, if you find over 6" of snow that slides easily, consider that you are dealing with more dangerous conditions. At 3,000ft you'll find the new snow falling on icy surfaces. The biggest hazards there will likely be traveling near open creeks and holes around boulders. 

Weak snow buried between January 1st and 2nd could become a problem as more snow accumulates. Be ready for a big jump in avalanche danger Saturday night into Sunday when incoming snow could prime the weak layer for slab avalanches. Until then you may be able to trigger loose dry avalanches or sluffs on steep slopes. These avalanches will be small and isolated. Be careful to stay out of your sluff and don't trigger it onto your backcountry partners. While loose avalanches are more predictable, they can push you around on steep slopes.

On Thursday, an NWAC Forecaster in the Skyline Lake area found the storm snow from the past week is bonding well. As mentioned above, the surface snow was weakening with small facets and, in some places, surface hoar. Riders in the Moonlight area triggered small avalanches in older wind slabs on a very steep, unsupported convex slope.  On Tuesday, a forecaster went to upper elevations in Lanham Creek and Jim Hill. They found little signs of instability as they traveled and snow stability tests produced stubborn or no results on the weak storm interfaces from earlier this week. There was 7-8 feet of snow at 5500ft. The top 8-10 inches of recent snow is weakening with the cold temperatures, and surface hoar and rime were found on the snow surface. Older wind slabs could be identified under the low-density snow but did not produce any cracking or signs of instability. There were challenging travel conditions below 4200ft, especially under the forest canopy, with just a few inches of snow over firm icy snow. 

If you're in the mountains, let us know what you see by submitting an observation.

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