Lawinenlagebericht

Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Sun
Hochgebirge
3 · Erheblich
Waldgrenze
3 · Erheblich
Unterhalb
2 · Mässig
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Veraltet — dieser Lagebericht ist 3 years ago abgelaufen. Du siehst vergangene Verhältnisse, nicht den aktuellen Bericht.

Kernpunkte

Today will be bright, sunny, and deceptively dangerous. You are likely to trigger large, destructive avalanches, and you can trigger these slides from long distances away. The first sign of instability may be the unsurvivable avalanche you trigger. Smaller loose snow avalanches will release naturally through the day as the sun warms the snow. These can become large in the wrong terrain and can also trigger larger slides on deeper weak layers as they travel downslope. 

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Likely
    Größe
    2–3

    Under the recent storm snow, you will find thick, very dense slabs sitting on layers of very weak snow. This combination has produced numerous natural and human-triggered avalanches during the storms this month and will continue to do so. If you dig down, you'll find thick piles of facets with or without surface hoar on shaded aspects, and crust+facet combinations on slopes that get more sun. You can trigger avalanches that fail on this weak snow from long distances away. Avalanches that fail on this weak layer will be large and destructive. 

    Because the slabs on top of this weak layer are so dense, you aren't likely to encounter many or any signs of instability before triggering a large, potentially unsurvivable avalanche. As a local professional wrote in their observation yesterday, "stability felt good, until you dug into the snowpack..."

    Keep this weak snow at the front of your mind when you are moving through the mountains.  

    (2/6/2024) The Sun Valley Ski Patrol ski-triggered this large avalanche Tuesday morning in the Cold Springs Chutes in the Sunrise Expansion Area. This area has not yet been opened to the public. It failed on a NE aspect near 8000'. The slide was 2-4 ft tall, 100 ft wide, and broke branches during its 900 ft vertical run. The debris piled up 4-7 feet deep against trees. Photo: Sun Valley Ski Patrol

  • Loose Wet

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Very Likely
    Größe
    1–1.5

    February storms brought several feet of snow to this zone. You will encounter a broad range of new snow issues today:

    Loose snow: Sluffs of new snow will be easy to trigger and will release naturally throughout the day as the sun warms the snow. Natural loose snow avalanches will occur first on E/SE-facing slopes and work their way around to S and then SW/W slopes as the sun arcs across the sky. Initially, these slides will have a dry character, but they will become wetter, denser, and more powerful as the day warms and the surface snow melts. 

    Wind slabs: Winds have been generally light in recent days. If you head to upper elevations, you may find small, reactive slabs in places where the wind has been transporting snow and building drifts. Wind slabs that formed earlier in the storm when conditions were much breezier will be hard to identify visually, thanks to the low-density powder sitting on top. 

    Slabs at new/old interface: Snowpit observations and natural avalanches point to the potential for avalanches failing at the base of the new snow, even in terrain sheltered from the wind. Our observations are limited, and we can't yet say with confidence if this interface will be a longer-lived weak layer or just a flash-in-the-pan. Some of the observed avalanches that failed on this layer broke many hundreds of feet wide. 

    Remember that all of these smaller avalanches will take place on the stage set by the Persistent Slab problem above. Smaller slides can be effective triggers for much larger Persistent Slab avalanches as they rocket downslope. 

Avalanche Discussion

Today you will be tasked with managing a dangerous snowpack and managing your own excitement and expectations. We emerge from a 10-day series of storms into a bright, beautiful, and dangerous world. The problems you'll encounter today broadly fall into new snow and old snow boxes. The Persistent slab box above describes the older snow, and the Wet Loose box describes the snow that fell in February. Let's start at the top:

NEW: Today's sunshine will produce a widespread shedding of the new snow in the mountains. Expect to see loose snow avalanches follow the sun around the sky, starting on E/SE slopes and moving towards S and then SW/W slopes as the day progresses. These slides will initially have a dry character but they are likely to become wetter as the day heats up and they entrain moist snow. In terrain affected by the wind, you may find some small, reactive wind slabs. Conditions have been fairly calm for the past few days, but it doesn't take much of a breeze to push the low-density snow around. Wind slabs that formed earlier in the storm will be hard to recognize visually, thanks to the low-density snow on top. In terrain shel

OLD: A widespread layer of weak snow is buried in our snowpack. This layer has produced countless natural and dozens of human-triggered avalanches this season and will continue to do so. A thick, dense slab of snow is sitting on top of this weak snow, making it slightly more difficult to impact the weak layer. Unfortunately, this same dense slab is very well connected to itself, and if you start an avalanche involving this slab it has a good chance of breaking very wide. 

There is a lot going on in our snowpack, and the warm sun and deep powder will make it hard to focus your attention on the problems at hand. Head out into the mountains expecting this. It may be the most beautiful winter day you've seen this year. I'd love nothing more than for each and every one of you to come home safe and write to me about all of the powder you safely feasted on. 

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