West Slopes South

Get ready for a hot and sunny weekend in the West South zone. No surprises here, wet avalanches will be your main concern throughout this warm spell. While that includes the wet loose and cornice falls mentioned above, our zone has some other unique challenges that may come into play. Namely, the volcanoes. Remember that the NWAC forecast tops out at 8,000 feet, and above this elevation, you could encounter very different conditions. With such warm weather in the forecast, icefall may be a concern on the volcanoes.

After the last few days were marked by both human-triggered and natural wind slab avalanches, wet loose activity began to increase on Friday. On Saturday, you should expect to dodge natural wet slides as rocks heat up and shed their snow. And if you find yourself on a steep, sun-exposed slope, you'll likely be able to push a wet avalanche of your own. Be cognizant of terrain above you and whether people might be traveling below you.  

All triggered avalanche activity should be confined to the snow above the easily-identifiable 3/25 crust. Other interfaces exist within the upper snowpack, such as the 3/29 and the 4/1, and could produce failures, but we'll largely be moving toward heavy, wet snow problems. In isolated locations, these wet slides could gouge down and run far distances on the underlying 3/25.

This week's storm helped improve travel at lower elevations for the time being. But there still isn't enough snow to pose much avalanche hazard. You will likely see wet avalanche activity in the lower elevation band, but the majority of it won't be large enough to reach the threshold to be called consequential avalanches. Instead, you'll need to continue to manage holes, creeks, bare ground, or shallowly buried hazards as you make your way into the mountains. These hazards will become more pronounced throughout our weekend of hot weather.