Late Spring/Summer Avalanche Hazard

Peteboy, very well written and very good advise.I liked the way you described it. Been there!

I for one, also tend to be more cautious on S facing slopes as opposed to N facing during the early parts of spring as well.

There should be a major spring avalanche cycle persisting through the middle of next week. Very warm temperatures after prolonged much cooler than normal conditions and a lack of spring consolidation make a significant cycle a sure bet if the weather models prove to be right. Even the cooling on Sunday and Monday (with cloudy skies) will be a temporary benefit. Temperatures at altitude look to be warm again on Tuesday into Wednesday. For at least a couple of weeks the warmer it gets and the longer it stays warm the more significant the cycle will prove to be. I'd guess that in some areas the February crust bond will get tested, meaning that some avalanches may involve all of the recent snows (March, April, May) down to the more consolidated early season snowpack.

Gary or others, in consideration of Gary's ominous forecast, do you have advice that is specific to the Easton Glacier route on Baker? We have a planned trip where we are expecting to set out from camp somewhere above 6k at about midnight Saturday with a target summit time of between 6 and 7 AM Saturday.

Interesting discussion, one that I was considering while touring this last weekend.

I seem to remember some early season concern that the ugly snowpack we were getting (weak layers buried under copious new heavy snow) at the time would end up being a problem come spring.

As I was cruising up a slope where a huge cornice bomb had previously impacted I was trying to imagine the that slope releasing and stepping down to a deeply buried layer- it boggles the mind to think it could rip down deep in what seemed to be a fairly consolidated pack. but i guess if it's a couple feet of consolidated snow that would be a great slab if there was still some of those crappy layers beneath.

Anyone care to comment?

I seem to remember some early season concern that the ugly snowpack we were getting (weak layers buried under copious new heavy snow) at the time would end up being a problem come spring.

Here's a link to last January's discussion about potential spring hazard. I let my imagination run wild regarding the worst-case scenario for spring avalanches here . I don't know if you'd call this week's situation worst-case, but it is interesting.