Lawinenlagebericht

Lawinenlagebericht

Payette Avalanche Center
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Lawinengefahr

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

Kernpunkte

Above 7,000 feet you are likely to encounter 3" to 2 feet thick sensitive wind slabs that formed from strong NNE winds and 3-4 inches of new snow. Steep, leeward, and exposed terrain should be approached with caution. Skiers were easily getting shooting cracks on Friday in these soft slabs that formed over the rain crust. Cooler temperatures are helping to stabilize the lower snowpack below 7,000 feet.  

Lawinenprobleme

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Recent, strong NNE winds and new snow (3-6") have done a great job of forming sensitive slabs that range from 3- 12" deep. These slabs are sitting on top of a rain crust now all the way up to 7,600 feet. Watch for red flags like cracking in the snow surface from your skis or sled, or sounds of whoomphing in the snowpack. Find alternate routes that don't take you into wind-loaded terrain.

    The Avalanche cycle earlier this week was fairly widespread and many wind-loaded slopes show the results.  We were able to see a lot of steep terrain Friday and most of it had crowns visible from natural avalanches that occurred Monday and early Tuesday.  Most of these were relatively shallow with crowns around a foot deep.  We did see some larger crowns in areas that were more heavily loaded by the winds Sunday and Monday.  Many of these slabs were resting on the older firmer or faceted snow below.  While it is much less likely that you will trigger a wind slab today based on the simple fact that most (but not all) slopes failed naturally, it is definitely still a possibility that you could find a slope that is still waiting for a trigger.  

    (3/4/2022)

    Northern winds pushed snow into small shallow, touchy slabs on top of the firm supportable frozen rain crust on this little South rollover just outside Brundage Ski area on Friday.

    Photo: GH

Avalanche Discussion

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Warm temps pushed the rain line up to around 7,600 feet Monday- Wednesday inducing a widespread natural avalanche cycle. Now with cooler temperatures, NORTH winds, and a lack of additional snowload, we will likely see our snowpack stabilize. The time that it will take for the snowpack to strengthen will vary by aspect and elevation. Upper elevation slopes are going to be suspect of sensitive wind slabs that could fail easily on top of this new rain crust. Lower elevation slopes, below 7,000 feet, that got saturation as far as 2 feet down from the surface, are going to freeze solid over the next couple of days.

Older wind slabs that failed Thursday were resting on a layer of dense wind-packed and faceted snow or some of the light dry, recycled powder that was a joy to ski and ride in last week.  The rapid warmup combined with wind loading did a pretty good job cleaning off our steep slopes, but it is still possible that you could trigger a slab avalanche in wind-loaded terrain that did not release by itself. 

Shallow loose dry sluffing will be possible in steep terrain, especially below 7600 where the new snow is not bonded to the rain crust. Sunny skies today may produce shallow loose-wet avalanches on steep South aspects below 7,000 feet should be small and mainly confined to the surface.