Looking north, up the Ruth Glacier Valley March 7, 2025 (Photo: Scotty Barrier)
Over the last 2 weeks, teams of skiers have been flying into the Alaska range to take advantage of nearly 2 weeks of stable weather. Amongst the teams in the field were the Denali Climbing Rangers, as they traversed from Backside Lake, through the Takosha Gap, and out to the highway. The consensus is that snow totals in the Front Range are on the lower side of “average” and the prolonged high pressure has led to a variable snowpack across aspects.
Looking NW, across the Tokositna Glacier valley, as rangers traverse south towards the Takosha Gap. (Photo: Scotty Barrier)
*The following observations only pertain to elevations below 6,000 ft. Minimal observations and reports exist from higher elevations in the range.
A loose wet avalanche cycle occurred in the days/week following the last storm system in the middle of March, with peak activity initiating from steep, rocky slopes. Solar aspects have developed a crust that varies between a supportable 5-10cm to a friable crust on the northerly fringes. A corn cycle is yet to develop and high haze kept the loose wet hazard to a minimum during the last week of March. Southerly aspects, especially those below 4,000’, with rocky terrain, are thinning quickly.
On NE-N-NW aspects, cold snow is still preserved and made for excellent ski conditions. Although surface hoar, up to 1cm, was observed on polar aspects, no signs of instability were observed. Additionally, on one occasion, buried surface hoar (3-5mm) was found 50cm down, on a north aspect at 5,000’. Test results proved unreactive (CTH RP & ECTN). The upper snowpack was right-side up with 15-20cm of fist hard facets.
For incoming groups of climbers and skiers, please get in touch with the team at the Walter Harper Talkeetna Ranger station to let them know your intentions and to report your observations from the field. Have fun out there and stay safe.
DISPATCH WEATHER DISCLAIMER: The National Weather Service issues a daily recreational climbing report which can be found here (note: the URL has changed from past years and the old one is no longer operational). Many other useful weather products including temperature, wind, and snowfall totals can be found through Mountain Weather.