Olympics

You can trigger a potentially large slab avalanche on northerly aspects, particularly above treeline. Active wind transport, cracking snow surfaces, and whumphs all indicate instability. Use small test slopes to check for weak layers in the snowpack before moving onto larger terrain features.

Winter conditions have returned to Hurricane Ridge. The Ridge picked up an estimated 7-8" of snowfall with cooling temperatures on Tuesday.  Temperatures warmed to around the freezing mark Wednesday afternoon with partial sunshine potentially triggering some wet loose avalanches on steeper southerly aspects. Northerly aspects should be where you'll find higher snow quality, but also a greater risk of triggering an avalanche on Thursday. We've found weaker snow layers in nearby zones and given the recent snow loading, you should assume these weak layers may be present on northerly aspects at Hurricane Ridge unless shallow test pits prove otherwise.

On Thursday, new snowfall (1-3") along with light to moderate SSW should load the freshand recent snow into thicker drifts where you are most likely to trigger an avalanche. You can look for cracking in the new snow or hollow-feeling layers to identify which slopes may be suspect. Consider avoiding all steep avalanche start zones and unsupported rollovers in the slope until we have more observations from NW-N-NE-E aspects.

Give freshly formed cornices a wide berth while traveling along ridgelines, they may break back further than you expect. They can also help you identify recently wind-loaded avalanche start zones to the lee of the ridgelines.

You can find the stout early March crust easily in the upper snowpack. This crust may be exposed on windswept ridgelines.  Moving forward, we are not concerned about deeper layers in the snowpack below the early March crust.   

2021-22 Forecast Schedule: Avalanchedanger ratings will be issued for the Olympics every Friday through Sunday and during mid-week holidays. During the week when the Hurricane Ridge road is closed, forecast information will be updated daily to include expected conditions and relevant travel advice under the No Rating label.