Hatcher Pass

The avalanche danger is LOW at all aspects and elevations.

Settled weather has contributed to stability in the snowpack. 

In steep and tight terrain, you could still trigger a small sluff of loose dry snow that could knock you off your feet and send you somewhere you do not want to go. 

It would not be impossible to find a lingering wind slab in isolated pockets of upper elevation terrain today. Despite generally light winds forecasted, look out for drifting snow that could build new slabs. Surface clues like dunes, pillows, or hollow, punchy snow indicate that wind has been moving snow. 

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Thanks to everyone who came to our last State of the Snowpack at Palmer Brewing. Please take a few moments to fill out our State of the Snowpack survey from the '25/'26 season here. Feel free to check out the mid-Feb to mid-March recap presentation. 

Don't forget to add HPAC on your Pick Click Give PFD application :) 

Light snowfall and generally light winds have made for a gentle shift to some points on the board for March, breaking our nearly 3-week-long drought period in Hatcher Pass. While avalanches are unlikely today, you could still find a few pockets of instability out there:  

• You are most likely to trigger slides where the wind has built fresh drifts. These will be relatively hard to find today. Lingering wind slabs will likely be hiding in sheltered, upper-elevation terrain directly below ridgelines or in tight gully features. 
• In extreme or very steep terrain, you could trigger loose snow sluffs that will entrain new snow as they move downhill. These could knock you off your feet, carrying you downhill. Even small slides can have serious consequences where slopes end in terrain traps such as cliffs, gullies, or depressions. 
• Strong spring sun could cause sun-induced loose snow slides where new snow clings to rocks. Be aware of what's above you, and avoid lingering below craggy terrain receiving direct sun—this will be more of a problem later this week with sunnier skies. 

Deeper instabilities on weak snow near the ground and mid-pack crust facet combos are still on our radar, but with a stout mid-pack slab bridging deeper layers, and no avalanches in over a month, the persistent slab problem is, for now, dormant. Despite the "LOW" hazard rating, don't rule out the possibility of finding trouble in the right spot—you can treat our shallow and variably weak snowpack as guilty until proven innocent. Think of it as a very low likelihood scenario, but still possible. If 99% of Hatcher has an unreactive persistent slab, ask yourself if you are in the 1% zone where the snow feels hollow, upside down, and shallow in steep and extreme terrain. 

RECENT AVALANCHES: 

This past week, HPAC staff and the public observed a few natural sluffs  that likely occurred during short-duration 3/7 snowfall. Over the weekend, an Alaska Avalanche School motorized course triggered and reported a small D1 wind slab avalanche in Upper Willow at 3,800' on a SE aspect. Several other snowmachining parties were able to kick off small, shallow wind slab avalanches on 3/10 (see photo) near Grizzly Pass . There have been no reported soft slab avalanches since. We still have not observed a persistent slab avalanche failing on weak snow near the ground since 1/31. See all recent observations here.