Lawinenlagebericht

Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sun
Hochgebirge
1 · Gering
Waldgrenze
1 · Gering
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 7 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Avalanches are unlikely and most slopes are safe.  Be on the lookout for areas where old, stiff wind-drifts overlie weak, sugary snow. This scenario is most likely above about 9,000 feet in elevation.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Unlikely
    Größe
    1–2

    The last reported avalanche in this zone occurred over 2 weeks ago when ski patrollers at Bald Mountain triggered an avalanche during mitigation work before opening the ski area. The slide failed on a wind-loaded slope that sees little ski traffic and harbored weak, sugary, faceted snow in the lower part of the snowpack.

    This exact snowpack scenario—hard, wind-drifted snow overlying weak, faceted snow—is where it may remain possible to trigger a slide. While triggering a slab avalanche is unlikely, I'd still pay attention in very steep, wind-loaded terrain, especially at elevations over about 9000'.

Avalanche Discussion

The mountains in this zone have a "low tide" appearance due to well below-average snowfall since Thanksgiving. With little snow to discuss, the big story of the last month is the wind. Several bouts of strong to extreme wind built icy, hard, drifts in many areas. These lingering slabs (as described above) still pose the greatest threat of a consequential avalanche in this zone.

These slabs, however, are beginning to weaken as extended cool, dry weather "rots", the snow near the surface. In more sheltered areas the entire snowpack is losing cohesion. This may lead to a relatively rare situation where small, loose snow avalanches begin to involve the majority of the snowpack.  These "facetlanches" will increase in likelihood as high-pressure continues. The size and consequence of these slides quickly increase in larger, funneled terrain. Keep this problem in mind if you're sinking down to the ground in sugary snow–particularly on very steep, sheltered slopes.

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