Lawinenlagebericht

Selkirk Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

Tue
Hochgebirge
2 · Mässig
Waldgrenze
2 · Mässig
Unterhalb
1 · Gering
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Kernpunkte

Weak snow layers concealed below a stiffening slab remain capable of failing and producing a dangerous avalanche, but are becoming more difficult to impact with each passing day. Be mindful of where you are in the terrain by knowing how close you are to steeper slopes, factoring the “what-if” scenario of triggering a large avalanche, and default to lower-angled, wind-sheltered slopes to account for human-triggering uncertainty. As snow surfaces soften during peak daytime warming, it may become easier to initiate a small wet snow sluff on steeper, sunny slopes.

Lawinenprobleme

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Hochgebirge
    • Waldgrenze
    • Unterhalb der Waldgrenze
    Wahrscheinlichkeit
    Possible
    Größe
    2–2.5

    Over the last several days, the lack of significant snow load and settlement has helped stiffen layers above and below multiple persistent weak layers. The same weak layers responsible for the notable uptick in avalanche activity during most of February. An avalanche triggered in any one of these buried layers - surface hoar or faceted snow around crusts - would be large enough to bury, injure, or kill a person. Now that the complex array of suspect layers gets a break from the steady new snow load and tries to find equilibrium, the likelihood to get into trouble decreases with each passing day, but the dangerous potential will dangle in the wind for some time. 

    Classic red flags like shooting cracks, audible collapses, and fresh avalanches have almost completely diminished making problems lurking below harder to detect. While the persistent weak layer setup may be slowly trending in the right direction, unstable snowpack tests and frequent reports of recent natural avalanches confirm our deeper snowpack concerns remain intact for now. Aspects that primarily face north through east have produced the most recent and largest avalanches, and where lingering reactivity in snowpack tests have been observed. Continue to make thoughtful terrain decisions and give yourself an extra margin while the snowpack trends to being less suspect.

    (2/23/2026)

    This avalanche was triggered just from traveling on the flat ridge above. Northeast aspect, near 6,700'. The slide initially failed on the Valentine's Day buried surface hoar, but broke within the recent storm snow, too. 

    February 23, 2026. 

    Photo: Izzy Davis

Avalanche Discussion

Observed avalanche activity continues to taper off across our forecast zones. However, numerous large to very large avalanches occurred just north of us in the Canadian Selkirk and Purcell Mountains this past weekend. One of these incidents resulted in a fatal avalanche accident, a mere 6 miles north of our Selkirk Mountain forecast boundary near Kootenay Pass. These events are good reminders that even during times of more difficult human-triggering, it's important to keep the decision-making processes at the forefront of trip planning - especially with pesky persistent grains well within the range of human and machine triggering. Our condolences go out to the family and friends of those involved.

The warm, quiet weather is expected to continue to nudge the triggering threat a bit lower with each passing day but the exact pace for our persistent grains to be unreactive is unknown at this time. Mostly because we know slabs gain strength faster than weaker layers below do. We are still taking snowpack structure stock following the prolonged, complex conditions and uptick in activity, and are still treating steeper slopes guilty till proven otherwise. If you do find the shallow trigger spot, the ensuing avalanche will likely be of a size you don’t want to mess with.

Now that wind speeds have relaxed, drifting concerns are expected to become stubborn rather quick but isolated, more reactive slabs may linger as you move higher in elevation. Areas directly below ridges, on sidewalls of gullies, and behind steep convex rolls are the common places for drifted areas to be a nuisance for longer. Windward slopes where the wind had more of a pressing influence on the snow surface could offer safer travel options. The leeward side of terrain likely harbors stiffer snow layers directly on top of softer ones, and how stiff or textured the snow surface is are clues to help guide you around lingering drifted slabs.

Now that March is upon us, we need to start incorporating surface warming evaluations into the avalanche hazard formula. Following clear skies and cold temperatures at night, surface warming is usually slower to evolve but can happen faster in sheltered areas or on heavily vegetated slopes. Watch for rollerballs and pinwheels as initial clues of this transition and monitor how deep you sink into wet snow if you see them. More than about 6 inches of wet snow suggests moving to colder, shadier slopes for recreation.

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IPAC is now on the Avy app! View, submit, and share observations on the go using the AvyApp. Your backcountry observations are critical for building our avalanche forecasts. Avy provides a centralized location for core trip planning, and you can view streamlined, up-to-date avalanche and weather forecasts for your selected zone, using offline caching. Download Avy today - App Store and Google Play.

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