Avalanche Danger Runs High

The danger from avalanches in Oregon and Washington has been the highest it’s been since the 1930s.

“We’ve issued more warnings this year than any other year,” said Mark Moore, director of the Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center in Seattle.

“It’s safe to say that while we may not have had the most snow of any year, the danger is the highest it has ever been because of the way the snow has accumulated.”

Twenty-nine sites in Oregon have set records for snow accumulation.

In the Olympic Mountains, where the snowpack is nearly 260 percent of average, a two-man crew was unable to conduct a snow survey on Mount Craig because the avalanche danger was too high.

“These were experienced folks, and when they got up there and had avalanches starting below and above them, they said, `No way,’ and turned around,” said Jon Lea of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

In the town of Diablo, Wash., a snowslide closed a road to a nearby power plant, and crews had to be flown in by helicopter.

“The avalanches have never closed this road before,” Lea said. “We’re seeing it all over - avalanches are larger and running farther than we’ve ever seen.”

So far this season, Oregon has had one avalanche fatality. A snowboarder from Spokane died in January when he triggered a slide near Spout Springs Ski Area in the Blue Mountains.

Nationwide, 17 people have died this season from avalanches. Another 18 died in Canada. Those numbers pale by comparison with the 60 who have died this year in Europe, including 38 killed last month in Austria.

Experts say land-use practices in Europe have made the danger worse. Many steep mountains have been denuded of trees, the best defense against devastating avalanches.

Pam Hayes, a forecaster with the Northwest Avalanche Forecast Center, said most of the danger in the United States occurs on federal lands, where few houses are built.

Moore said the arrival of spring brings the most danger, especially in back-country areas without avalanche control.

“That’s our biggest concern,” Moore said. “It’s been cold enough that we haven’t seen any really large avalanches, but we’ve got some unstable layers of snow from January. If we have a quick warm-up or a large rain event, we could have some really large avalanches …”

“Snow is a visco-elastic liquid - almost like honey,” he said. “When you warm it up, it runs downhill. And when it runs downhill in the form of an avalanche, it can bury anything, and anyone, in its path.”