Lawinenlagebericht

Selkirk Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
Auf der Karte ansehen

Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

Generally safe avalanche conditions exist across the zone. Avalanches are unlikely, but possible in isolated wind loaded areas. Look for wind loading patterns in the terrain as you travel and bypass the steep, freshly loaded slopes.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

     Newly formed wind slabs on the surface of the snow are where you can find trouble today. Light snow and moderate SW winds have combined to create shallow wind drifted slabs across the zone.  Wind slab formation will most likely be found on north through northeast aspects. They can be hard to identify at times, so take time to assess the stability of the upper snowpack before committing to steep terrain.

    (1/6/2023)

    Micah, trying to kick off a wind slab.

    Photo: B Hilland

Avalanche Discussion

On 1/5 we went to visit a lodge on Baldy Mountain, in the Selkirks. We are going to host an Avalanche Level 2 class there next weekend, so we came up to get a lay of the land. Four of us toured up the south side of Baldy and dug two data pits on our journey. The first snowpit was at 4400' on a south facing slope. In that snowpit, the two things that jumped out at me were the prominant crust in the middle of the snowpack, which we've named the "Christmas Tree Crust," and the buried instabilities in the upper portion of the pack. 

The Christmas Tree Crust is pretty obvious in the snowpack up until 5000' where it fades away in some locations. From 2000'-4500', the crust is dominating the middle of the snowpack. Fortunately, the crust isn't very reactive right now. Of course, that could change, but for now we aren't seeing failure happen on the crust. Temperature gradients in that the crust area of the snowpack indicate that the crust may be breaking down, but only time will tell. We'll continue to keep an eye on it through the next couple weeks.

There are instabilities in the upper portion of the snowpack that are worth mentioning. One of those instabilities is a buried surface hoar layer from last Thursday night. It has been hit or miss trying to find how widespread it is. In the Selkirks, it's not hard to find in isolated pockets near treeline or slightly above. It doesn't seem to be aspect driven as much as elevation driven. Today, I'm not concerned with the surface hoar layer because of how close it is th the snow surface. There's a good chance that the surface hoar layer will become more of a concern as more snow falls on it.

Keep making public observations! Does anyone get into the northern Selkirks? A snowpack update from up north would be pretty awesome! Anyone?Anyone?

Thanks again for using the new OBSERVATION PLATFORM! If you haven't seen it yet, check it out-  https://www.idahopanhandleavalanche.org/observations#/view

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