Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

A powerful storm is creating dangerous avalanche conditions in the northern border of this zone. Destructive natural and human-triggered avalanches are more likely as you climb into windier, upper elevation terrain. Stay off of and out from beneath slopes steeper than 30 degrees, and avoid traveling in the runout zones of avalanche paths.

We will begin issuing daily Avalanche Forecasts with Danger Ratings when snow cover allows for reasonable backcountry recreational access. 

If you're travelling along the northern border of this zone in areas expected to receive significantly more snow, such as at Dollarhide Summit and the Soldier Mountains, please refer to the Galena Summit and Eastern Mountains forecast.

The storm is raging on, but the southern zone of our forecast area has received only 6-9" of snowfall so far, with another 6-12" forecast to fall today, favoring the higher elevation terrain around Dollarhide Summit and in the Soldier Mountains. Much of this storm snowfall is landing on very shallow snowpacks or dirt. Winds are expected to continue to blow strong from the west. This combination will continue to thicken fresh wind slabs that will overlap yesterday's thin wind slabs at upper elevations. Wind Slabs may be dangerous on their own, but they also increase the chance of very large avalanches breaking on persistent weak layers buried deeper in the snowpack. 

Shady slopes (NW-N-NE-E aspects) near and above 9000 ft on Bald Mountain, in the Soldier Mountains, near Dollarhide Summit, and near the border of the Galena Summit & Eastern Mountains zone are the most dangerous. 

Cracks shooting out from you and "whumpfing" sounds as the snowpack collapses are red flags that indicate unstable conditions.  Avoid steep slopes if you experience these obvious signs of instability. Triggered slides could be wider than you expect. You may be able to trigger avalanches remotely—from gentler terrain above, below, or to the sides of steep slopes.