East Cabinet Mountains

Snowpack conditions across the Kootenai are currently stable but we still lack depth. The biggest threat to your safety in the backcountry is the risk of smacking a rock or log buried in the snow. Keep this in mind when travelling off the beaten path this week.

On December 11th Liz and I travelled into the East Cabinets north of Noxon. We were able to make it up as high as 7,600' and dug multiple pits along the way. Currently there is very little to report in the way of avalanche hazards. The warm temperatures and rain that saturated the mountains have done a great job of stabilizing the snowpack. The 6-7 inches of rain that fell last week has saturated the base of the snowpack and consolidated the weak layers that developed earlier in the season. Our observations showed the new snow that came in after the rain has bonded as well. Stability tests at elevations above 7,000' revealed a few scattered persistent weak layers under the rain crust but they do not show likelihood of causing an avalanche at this time. 

While avalanche concerns are very minimal at this time, I will point out that I hit quite a few rocks on the way out yesterday. Running into rocks, logs or stumps is really the biggest safety concern out there at the moment. Stay on point and make sure you have a plan in case things go wrong, at minimum have a way to communicate with the outside world and a way to keep yourself warm in the event of an injury or mechanical failure.

Snowpack depths at upper elevations vary widely across the Kootenai mountain ranges with Bear Mountain recording 42 inches and Hawkins Lake in the Purcell Range recording a meager 15 inches. To summarize, the West Cabinets above 5,000' will be your best bet for decent riding conditions right now. Our next forecast will be coming out Friday morning. Between forecasts we will be posting general snowpack information. These will lack a hazard rating but will still contain info related to hazards in the snowpack that will aid you in making informed decisions regarding avalanche safety. Although the map may be colored grey between forecasts on the website, don't be afraid to click on it to get the latest information.