Bollettino valanghe

Stevens Pass

Northwest Avalanche Center
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Pericolo valanghe

Sun
Alta quota
2 · Moderato
Limite del bosco
2 · Moderato
Sotto il limite
2 · Moderato
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Non aggiornato — questo bollettino è scaduto 5 months ago. Stai vedendo condizioni passate, non il bollettino in corso.

In sintesi

Wet snowpack conditions will continue through the weekend. Avoid - or at least limit - travel directly below glide cracks, cliffs, corniced ridgelines, and large unsupported slopes. Expect a drastically altered mountain environment with open lakes and creeks, glide cracks, and lots of wet or crusty snow.

Problemi valanghivi

  • Glide Cracks

    • Alta quota
    • Limite del bosco
    • Sotto il limite del bosco
    Probabilità
    Possible
    Dimensione
    1.5–2.5

    Glide avalanches are not a common occurrence in Stevens Pass, but it’s the best way to describe the main avalanche danger you’ll encounter this weekend. Nearly 5 inches of rain pushed the snowpack through wet loose and wet slab avalanche cycles, and colder overnight temperatures should begin to firm up the surface. But it will take more than one night to stabilize the wet, saturated snow that is struggling to stay attached to steep terrain like cliffs, rock bands, and smooth rock slabs. Cornices are also suspect.

    While you might still be able to push wet snow around on steep slopes, the real concern is large, very unpredictable, low-likelihood events where a chunk of snow comes unglued from the mountain. These aren’t problems you can evaluate with stability tests, and it’s unlikely you would trigger one. The only real way to reduce your risk is to limit time spent below cornices, cliffs, glide cracks, wrinkled-looking snow, and anything else that looks sketchy and poorly attached to the mountain.

    (3/20/2026)

    Glide cracks on a steep northeast aspect at 5400 feet in Steven Pass.

    Photo: Stevens Pass Ski Patrol

Avalanche Discussion

While Stevens Pass was on the relatively “low” end of precipitation in the Central Cascades, with about 5 inches of rain over the past week, the snowpack took a major hit. The light, cold snow from earlier this month was no match for sustained rainfall, and temperatures at 5,000 feet that hovered in the upper 30s to low 40s. At pass level, total snow depth dropped by roughly 3 feet—over 40% of the seasonal peak snow depth reached last weekend—and it's now swiftly working its way down the Skykomish River and Nason Creek. In contrast, many SNOTELs in West Central picked up anywhere from 8 to 13 inches of rain in the same time period.

An NWAC forecaster observed a handful of wet avalanches that released in the few days, including at least one large (D2) slide on a northerly aspect. The snowpack is now heavily saturated, with many slopes melted out or shallowly covered. The upper snowpack has largely transformed into melt forms. Water appears to be draining well, and there are no widespread signs of active wet instability, but a buried layer of large melt forms about 3 feet deep could still produce isolated, larger wet avalanches.

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