Lawinenlagebericht

Selkirk Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sat
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 4 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Be aware that, if triggered, avalanches may step down into deeper layers resulting in a large avalanche.  Several D1 and D2 avalanches have been observed on north facing slopes throughout the Selkirks. Give yourself a large margin of error and be prepared to back off terrain when signs of instability are present.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    We’ve been tracking a persistent weak layer problem in the snowpack for the past couple of weeks. Although the layer of concern continues to get buried with each passing storm, it remains the biggest problem in the snowpack. The good news is that the deeper the layer gets, the less likely we are to trigger it. The bad news is that if it does get triggered, it has the capability to produce a large avalanche. As the snowpack settles and stiffens, the likelihood of a remote trigger increases. Currently, the most likely place we’ve found to trigger the weak layer is near shallow spots in the snowpack such as, rocks, stumps or brushy areas. Have extra caution on N facing slopes especially if there's wind loading.

    (12/15/2022) Photo: J. Thompson

Avalanche Discussion

For the most part, the big snow that we received last week is bonding to the snow below it pretty well. I haven’t seen instability associated with that layer except for north facing ridges in the mid-slope area. All of the avalanches we observed yesterday were on sub-ridges, well below the main ridgelines, on north facing slopes. The blast of NE winds last week created wind slabs on those types of slopes. Place a critical eye on your route finding because the slopes that are sliding are the slopes that you may have thought of as a ‘safe line’ under different circumstances. We didn’t see avalanches in the bigger areas near ridges, just pockets mid-slope.

Air temperatures are forecasted to continue getting colder. A high of 5 degrees is expected in the Cabinets by Monday. The snowpack generally changes at a slower rate during cold spells. I’d expect to see the slab of snow become firmer and more supportable, as the cold spell runs it course. Don’t let a firmer, more supportable snowpack lure you into thinking the snowpack is getting stronger. I’m a little worried about building false sense of security during the next 10 days. Just because you ‘get away’ with something doesn’t mean it was a good decision. The snowpack has entered a ‘low frequency, high consequence’ time. You may travel a slope and get away with it…or you may find the weak spot to trigger an avalanche. I’ll feel better about the weak layer when it gets buried a little more. At this point, the thing that will give me a little trust in the PWL is more snow to isolate it at the bottom of the snowpack to a point that snowmobiles and skiers can’t trigger it. Right now, the layer is still able to be triggered in most places. Maintain a good margin of error and be heads up about route finding and you’ll have a great day in the mountains!  

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