Bulletin d’avalanche

Summit Lake

Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

Fri
Alpin
3 · Marqué
Limite forestière
2 · Modéré
Sous la limite
1 · Faible
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Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 8 months ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Above 2,500’ strong northwest winds will be blowing snow into fresh wind slabs up to 1’ deep. Older wind slabs around 1.5’ deep are sitting over a layer of weak snow and may be easier to trigger than expected. It is becoming less likely to trigger an avalanche up to 3’ deep on a layer of buried surface hoar. Glide avalanche activity looks to be slowing down. The safest option is to avoid steep windloaded slopes.

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Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Recent Avalanches: It has been more than three weeks since there has been a reported human triggered avalanche. We are also seeing less glide cracks releasing as glide avalanches.

    Fresh wind slabs forming today could be around 1’ deep. These may be sitting on top of a layer of weak snow which will make these easier to trigger.

    Traveling on windloaded slopes will likely have firm snow sitting over soft snow. This is the setup you should look out for in avalanche terrain, especially below ridges and in gullies. Jumping on small wind loaded slopes are good tests to see if you can trigger a small avalanche. Choosing runs that are not wind loaded decrease your chance of getting caught in an avalanche.

    (12/16/2025)

    Soft snow leaving tracks between a wind slab that is to firm too leave tracks in. 

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    2–3

    There are two possibilities for getting caught in an avalanche up to 3’ deep today:

    1. Wind slabs around 1.5’ deep that are sitting on top of a layer of weak buried snow. This setup is making wind slabs easier to trigger for longer, which is not typical as wind slabs tend to be less of concern after 24 to 48 hrs.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              
    2. There is still a chance a person could trigger an avalanche on several buried weak layers of surface hoar. At this point they seem harder to trigger for now. This is because it has been almost 3 weeks since these layers were responsible for triggering an avalanche and prolonged cold weather has aided in strengthening the snowpack. These layers could become a bigger problem when a storm brings a fresh round of snow. 

    Wind slabs are the more problematic of these two situations at the moment. Shooting cracks and firm snow over soft snow are clear clues that the wind slab you are traveling on could avalanche. The safest option is to avoid wind loaded slopes.

    (12/10/2025)

    Shooting cracks on a wind slab on Colorado Mtn. 

  • Glide Cracks

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    2–3

    Glide avalanche activity looks like it may have slowed down for now. That being said, if you find yourself under a glide crack it is a good idea for your team to space out because these are large avalanches that can release at any moment.

    (12/1/2025)

    Glide avalanche on Butch.

    Photo: Andrew Schauer

Régions couvertes