Boletín de aludes

Elkhorns

Wallowa Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Alta montaña
2 · Moderado
Límite del bosque
2 · Moderado
Bajo el límite
1 · Débil
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 3 years ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

New snow from the last few days may create loose avalanches in steeper terrain.   While becoming less likely, if you found a thin spot in the snowpack, there is still the potential to trigger an avalanche on weak snow deeper in the snowpack. Staying off slopes steeper than 30 degrees is advised to avoid getting caught in an avalanche.

This forecast is sponsored by La Grande Sno-Drifters Snowmobile Club

Problemas de aludes

  • Loose Dry

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1

    12"-16" of new snow sits above the Late January Rain Crust that was buried on February 1st.  Observers in the field have been finding that this snow is right-side up, meaning it is more dense near the crust and lighter (less dense) near the surface of the snow.  It seems to be well bonded to the Rain Crust in most locations, and as of yesterday had not created much of a slab.  This is great for riding and avalanche conditions!  

    As time progresses, the light new snow will settle into more of a slab and could become a bit more reactive.  During your travels today, I'd encourage you to dig multiple hand pits down to the Rain Crust to observe how well the new snow has bonded to the crust.   See if you can pick up a slab of snow. If you can hold it like a big ol' cheeseburger and take a bite out of it, you've got a storm slab.  If it just crumbles in your hands, then you should be thinking about the potential to trigger a Dry Loose Avalanche or "sluff" in steeper terrain.  Use small and inconsequential steeper test slopes no bigger than a two-story house to test the reactiveness of the new snow.  Ride your machine or boards over the test slope to see if you release small dry loose avalanches or more of a slab.  

    Dry Loose avalanches should be on the smaller side, but could still catch and drag you over consequential terrain such as cliffs and trees,  or into a gully where the consequences could be higher. 

    With a sunny day on tap, solar aspects may start to produce roller balls this afternoon as direct sun and the lack of cooling winds start to warm the snow surface.  If you find yourself on solar aspects in the afternoon and find yourself up to your boot tops in wet snow, it's time to find a shadier aspect! 

     

    Dry Loose Avalanche triggered by a skier.  

    Photo: Colorado Avalanche Information Center

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    1–3

    Reports from the field indicate the persistent weak layers in the snowpack are becoming less reactive. They are also getting more deeply buried. This is good for the overall stability.  The reality of the mountain snowpack is that it is not completely uniform.  There are plenty of areas in the Elkhorns and Southern Wallowas that have over 7 feet of snow, and the snowpack is carrying our weight quite well over deeper weak layers.  In areas that have been stripped by the wind and have a shallower snowpack, it is still possible to trigger a persistent slab avalanche.  Check out the snowpack structure from Sarah Jakober's observation on Wednesday in the Elkhorns...it looks a bit unstable!  

    Avoid thin, rocky, and steep areas to avoid triggering a persistent slab avalanche. 

    Through your travels in the mountains today, use your probe to track the depth of the snowpack.  If you don't feel confident in assessing the persistent slab avalanche problem, it is best to stick to terrain less than 30 degrees.  This is a low-likelihood, high-consequence problem.  An avalanche failing on deeply buried weak layers would likely be unsurvivable.  

     

     

    (2/7/2024)

    Snowpit Graph form the Elkhorns 2/7

    Sarah Jakober

Avalanche Discussion

Rain, warm temps, and lack of significant low-elevation snow means we have dropped the hazard rating  below treeline danger to Low. Low danger does not mean NO danger! Pay attention to what the snow is telling you and remember the snowpack near and above the treeline has much different problems and is still very worthy of your attention.

Fairly consistent storms have been depositing snow on top of a crust since February 1st.  The most consistently reported avalanche problem from folks getting out in the mountains has been Dry Loose.

Reports from the field indicate the persistent weak layers in the snowpack are becoming less reactive. They are also getting more deeply buried. This is good for the overall stability. The problem is that it is still not impossible to trigger one of these slides.  They are most likely to be triggered in steep, rocky, and thin areas of the snowpack.  The stiff slab sitting above the weak layers is still capable of propagating a large to very large avalanche across the terrain and into areas that have a deeper snowpack.  

If you haven't checked out some of the recent observations from the Southern Wallowas and Elkhorns, you can find them here.  

WAC Executive Director/Forecaster, Victor McNeil wrote this excellent Conditions Blog. It provides a great summary of conditions in January and what that means for the snowpack now in February.

Keep the observations coming!  Let us know what you are seeing in your travels by submitting an observation here.  

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