Lawinenlagebericht

West Mountains

Payette Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Thu
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
Keine Stufe
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Kernpunkte

Triggering an avalanche up to one feet deep is possible above 6500' today. Expect rising avalanche danger as the day progresses. Continue to practice safe backcountry travel habits, avoid wind-loaded slopes & give terrain near or under cornices a wide buffer.  If you are seeing cracks or drifts of snow, find another lower-angle slope.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    New snow is high-density (heavier) and will be accompanied by strong W/SW winds of 30+ mph. You can expect to find wind slabs this afternoon up to 4-6 inches thick on North and east-facing slopes above 6,500 feet. Wind slabs will be most sensitive just below corniced ridgelines. Look for clues of wind-affected snow, such as drifts, dunes, pillows, and freshly built cornices. Watch for signs of instability, such as shooting cracks in your skis, board, or sled. If you're observing these signs, find another aspect away from wind-drifted snow.

    Pay attention to how well the new snow has bonded to the underlying crusts before committing to steep slopes. Strong winds and local terrain features can alter the prevailing wind direction. Pay attention to cross-loading and wind-loading on unsuspecting slopes.

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    1–1.5

    Below 6,500 feet over last few days, the snowpack has been rained on and has not been re-frozen. 2-8 inches of new snow sits on top of wet snow. This setup may fail on slopes steeper than 35 degrees and behave dry and wet with a depth of 8-12 inches or more. Aproach steep lower elevation with caution as there are likely freshly buried rocks and logs that you could run into. West mountan had no snow below 6500' before today.

Avalanche Discussion

For the time being, with an additional 8-12 inches or more of new snow (plus a healthy portion of zonal-flow W wind) favoring the northern portion of the Salmon River Range, we expect to see a wide range in avalanche activity. Many of these may be small and occur at low to middle elevations, running as wet-loose avalanches or point releases. Above 6,500, larger avalanche activity will most likely be in the form of wind slabs of newly-drifted snow. Either way, conditions moving into the weekend will become increasingly dangerous. March produced very little snowfall, but it’s time to turn the avalanche brain on once again. Cautious route-finding, traveling one at a time, and carrying the proper gear.

Yesterday near Fisher Cree, the old snow was a mixed bag of melt-freeze crusts and generally wet snow. A pit at 7,500' on a NE aspect revealed a total HS of over 300 cm, but we only dug around 140cm down, which was enough to locate 2/14 (for fun). Interestingly, only the top 2-2.5 feet of the snowpack here has been saturated, leaving everything beneath still predominantly moist, with no percolation columns. Snow pit tests highlighted weaker snow at the N/O interface (lighter-density grains that fell from 3/30-3/31 right at the interface, ECTN11) as well as smashed between two melt-freeze crusts (ECTN15), neither of which propagated or is composed of any type of persistent grain. However, with the vast grain size difference between this dry snowfall and the old snow surface remaining wet, We do think we finally have the recipe for wet slabs if things clear to full sun and hot temps Fri/Sat. 

This Friday, we are having our end-of-season Shebang at Toll Station Pizza in McCall. Come join us from 6-8 pm for great pizza, raffle prizes, quick education, and community bonding...see you there.

The last avalanche forecast of the season will be published this Sunday. The observations page will always function and is a great resource for the shoulder season...If you're out in the mountains, submit an observation on our website or through the Avy App. Tag us #payetteavy

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