This is an archived advisory in relation to a fatality on Jan 9

Backcountry Avalanche Forecast - East Slopes Central
Issued: Thursday, January 8, 2026 - 6:00PM
Expires: Friday, January 9, 2026 - 6:00PM
Author: Payton Schiff

THE BOTTOM LINE

As we ever so slowly ease out of an active weather period, the likelihood of triggering a large slab avalanche remains elevated. Keep steering around steep slopes when you see clear signs that storm snow is cracking and unstable in both sheltered and exposed terrain. If the sun permeates thin cloud coverage enough on Friday, you could see sluffs of wetted snow releasing from steep cliff bands and rock features. 

Avalanche Danger
Friday, January 9, 2026
Upper Elevation 7500-6000ft3 - Considerable
Middle Elevations 6000-5000ft3 - Considerable
Lower Elevations 5000-2500ft2 - Moderate

Avalanche Problems (2)

Problem #1: Wind Slab

Aspect/Elevation:
Upper Elevations 7500-6000ft
Middle Elevations 6000-5000ft
All aspects

Likelihood: Likely
Size: Small (D1) to Large (D2)

Friday marks the end of a very active weather week, but we're not quite out of the weeds yet. Wind slabs are likely still reactive in upper elevation terrain. They are deeper and more sensitive on north and east aspects. At middle elevations, both wind slab and storm slab avalanches are still on the table too. Clear signs of instability in both problems include long shooting cracks from your equipment, collapsing, and recent slab avalanches. You can find small, inconsequential test slopes indicative of the terrain you want to ski or ride to test for these signs, but as wind slabs trend more stubborn, the less likely you are to get clear feedback. Some better clues to look out for are a change to denser feeling snow underneath you, and cornice or drift development. Textured surfaces may be obscured by freshly fallen snow in areas closer to the Cascade Crest, but you can watch for blowing snow in these areas to signal where very small, fresh slabs are forming. Hand pits are also an excellent tool to test the bond of interstorm layers.

Problem #2: Wet Loose

Aspect/Elevation:
Middle Elevations 6000-5000ft
Lower Elevations 5000-2500ft
SW through SE

Likelihood: Possible
Size: Small (D1)

Friday isn't expected to get particularly warm or sunny. Nonetheless, there is a lot of fresh, dry snow out there that will be easily influenced by this transition to dry weather. When you start noticing large clumps of snow falling from trees or cliffs and roller balls forming, mark that as a sign that the snowpack is warming and weakening. Pay attention to the terrain around you as sluffs can start in steep terrain above, and carry you into terrain traps below. If the sun comes out enough that surfaces get sticky and moist, you'll want to retreat to more sheltered terrain. We suspect that at upper elevations, the snowpack will remain too cold and hardened by the wind to be as easily affected.

Forecast Discussion

These transition days from active weather to high pressure can be tough to forecast when it's not a sharp jump from cold and stormy to hot and sunny. There are many weather and snowpack properties your local avalanche forecaster loses sleep over, which influence how quickly storm instabilities heal or persist. Luckily, some clear feedback came on Thursday, when Mission Ridge Pro Patrol triggered numerous wind and storm slabs during morning mitigation work. If conditions were that reactive where less snow fell throughout the week, consider what things are like in areas that received more snow, such as the Salmon La Sac and Chiwakums. Ultimately, Friday will be the first day post-storm, so it behooves you to gently ease your way into the backcountry.

Precipitation totals for the week reported by weather stations are 1.7-2.1 inches for the southwest corner, 1.3 for the northwest, and 0.2-0.8 for the east side. Generally, 0.1 inches of precipitation is equivalent to 1 inch of snow, but most of this snow was low density, so observed snow depths were initially much deeper before the snow settled. All of this new snow sits over a right side up snowpack with a number of melt freeze crusts within. One of Mission Ridge's avalanches on Thursday stepped down to a crust formed on New Year's, but otherwise, we haven't heard of much instability associated with any crust. We still lack a lot of information for upper elevations and for terrain in the northern end of the zone, however. Snowpack depths are significantly deeper in the Salmon La Sac, and maybe even the Teanaway. Five to 8 feet have been found in the La Sac, whereas observations have reported only 2 to 3 feet in the central and eastern parts of the zone.

Despite all this awesome new snow, open creeks, downed logs, and other hazards remain obstacles at lower elevations and in areas with shallower snowpacks. They may be obscured by new snow now, so take your time as you move around the backcountry. In choosing terrain to ride, consider the consequence of a slide- if one happens, where will it take you? Look for slopes with a clean run-out free of bone-breaking trees, creeks, and rocks.