Lawinenlagebericht

Tetons

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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

Triggering an avalanche large enough to bury a person is likely to be easy today in steep, wind loaded terrain above 8,000'. Signs of unstable snow like cracking, wind sculpted surfaces and drifts or cornices are good clues to move to lower angled, sheltered terrain. New snow is likely to sluff easily on steep, sheltered slopes and could push you around with some force. Today is a good day to step back to less consequential terrain and let the new snow settle.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Very Likely
    Größe
    1–2.5

    Up to a foot and a half of snow fell overnight accompanied by wind speeds easily capable of moving this snow into avalanche starting zones. Expect loading and cross-loading on many aspects due to the change in wind direction from the south to the west. Continued wind loading make natural avalanches a distinct possibility as well today. Temperatures warmed slowly overnight and will continue to warm today which brings another destabilizing factor into play. The rate and amount of snowfall in the past 12 hours are clear indicators that you could trigger an avalanche even in sheltered terrain where you could trigger a storm slab with no signs of wind affect.  There is a lot of loose snow under the new snow that fell overnight. Any avalanche today could entrain a surprising amount of snow. Slab depths are most likely to be 1-2' but could grow to 3' in drifted areas.

    (3/5/2024) Wind slab at 9500', SW aspect, 33 degree slope, trees of First Turn at Teton Pass. This observation shows slabs breaking easily yesterday afternoon even before the bulk of the new snow arrived overnight. Photo: Tianse Abeles-Allison

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Very large avalanches involving deeply buried layers of weak snow remain as blips on the radar every time we receive a thumping from these Pacific storms. True they are few and far between but when they break, they break big. At risk of sounding like a broken record, very steep, hanging snowfields above cliffs along with rocky or notably shallow slopes are where you're most like to find this problem. 

    The primary culprit is a weak layer of snow buried in January that now sits below a firm, cohesive slab, around 3-5+ feet deep dependent on your elevation. Areas that have held shallower snow all season are more likely to have this problem. Lower elevations have recently filled in and created the bed surfaces required to produce an avalanche. The shallow snowpack there makes triggering some depth hoar or the January weak layer possible at this point.   Keep in mind that a large wind slab release or cornice fall also has the potential to trigger a very large natural avalanche.

    (3/4/2024)

    A recent large natural avalanche that occurred on Mount Hunt.

Avalanche Discussion

There really isn't much to say to support the message above. Red flags for avalanches are waving brightly this morning. If you choose to enter avalanche terrain, you'll want to be on full alert and mindful of the recency of the new snow and the potential for a large volume of snow to be involved in any avalanche. While we don't expect widespread natural avalanches, conditions will be dangerous and the possible threat of a natural avalanche from above will have me choosing terrain very carefully today.

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