Stevens Pass
Pericolo valanghe
In sintesi
Stout surface crusts are keeping the avalanche conditions generally safe. Be prepared for slick and firm travel conditions. If you travel to upper elevations watch for isolated and shallow fresh drifts of snow.
Avalanche Discussion
Expect 1-2" of new snow to add to the 2" that accumulated Saturday night. East winds will be strong enough to transport snow, but only the highest elevations may hold enough for any true wind slab hazard. If you find fresh drifts approaching 6" deep, be prepared identify and avoid features of concern on slopes steeper than 35 degrees.
Surface crusts are getting very hard and now are 3-6" thick. On Sunday, NWAC forecasters at 5,300ft found surface crusts pencil to knife hard and over 4" thick. The dusting of new snow was already starting to facet. Non-avalanche hazards may dominate your risk management decisions. These could include challenging travel on slick, frozen surfaces and terrain hazards like open creeks and glide cracks. It's worth continuing to limit your exposure to steep rock slabs where glide avalanches typically occur, especially where you see open glide cracks in the snow.
During a prolonged rain event in the last week of January, water transformed the snowpack It reached the ground in many places. On Thursday, forecasters visited a profile study site near Skyline Lake before the snowpack had frozen. The Solstice crust was 3.5ft down and still produced test results that corresponded with the widespread wet avalanche cycle. The solid crust that's now capping the layer will make it very difficult to trigger avalanches. Information from upper elevations is still limited, and we assume less of last week's precipitation fell as rain fell there. If you plan on traveling above 6,000ft, be ready to make your own assessment of the snowpack.
From the 28th through the 30th, observers reported numerous very large avalanches that ran naturally and with control work. Some of these slid on old, weak layers, gouged to the ground, and took out trees.
If you make it out, please share what you found with an observation.