Boletín de aludes

Banner Summit

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Peligro de aludes

Tue
Alta montaña
3 · Notable
Límite del bosque
3 · Notable
Bajo el límite
3 · Notable
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Desactualizado: este boletín caducó 6 years ago. Estás viendo condiciones pasadas, no el boletín vigente.

Lo esencial

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist. Triggering a very large avalanche is likely on many steep slopes. Skiers and riders should continue to choose low-angle terrain that isn't threatened by steeper slopes above. There have been many human-triggered avalanches in the past week. Most of these were triggered remotely—from below, above, and to the sides of steeper slopes.

Problemas de aludes

  • Deep Persistent Slabs

    • Alta montaña
    • Límite del bosque
    • Bajo el límite del bosque
    Probabilidad
    Possible
    Tamaño
    2–3

    A weak layer of faceted snow is buried beneath a dense, 2.5-3.5' thick slab in this zone. Our recent observations indicate that this weak layer is showing few signs of healing. Deeply buried weak layers are difficult to deal with, in many cases the first obvious sign of instability may be the very large avalanche that you trigger. Fortunately for us, the snowpack has been giving us some direct feedback that it is unstable:

    • On Saturday, riders in this zone felt a huge collapse that they likened to an earthquake
    • Last week, Chris and I experienced a collapse that sounded like a gunshot. This occurred after we had finished our tests (unstable results) as Chris stepped out of the pit.
    • Even though many slopes in this zone had already avalanched during the Solstice storm, the more recent storm still produced some noteworthy slides (example, example).

     With the weak layer buried beneath a thick, dense slab, it may be somewhat more difficult to trigger a slide than in other portions of the forecast area. But if you do trigger an avalanche, it's likely to be a big one that will be difficult to survive. We urge backcountry skiers and riders to continue to choose low angle slopes and to pay extra attention to the terrain they're "connected" to. Remotely triggering an avalanche from below, above, and to the sides of steep slopes remains a very real possibility.

Avalanche Discussion

I understand your frustration when you check the forecast every morning and the avalanche danger remains elevated. I would love to be able to tell you that everything is safer today. But, my job isn't to tell you what you want to hear, it is to accurately describe the conditions in the backcountry. The snowpack varies across our area, but the basics are the same everywhere. Weak, faceted snow is buried beneath a 1-3' thick slab.

Even as the days pass since the storm last week we continue to see obvious signs of instability relating to this weak snow. Each day, observers report widespread cracking and collapsing of the snowpack, even on heavily traveled skin tracks. More importantly, observations of both natural and human-triggered avalanches continue to roll in. Our snowpack is speaking to us plainly and cleary. Our job as riders and skiers is to listen to what is being said. 

We deal with dangerous avalanche conditions by operating with wide safety margins. Stay alert to the terrain that you are traveling through and that you are exposed to from above. Today is not significantly different than yesterday and we need to continue to make conservative decisions in the backcountry in order to ensure our safe return home at the end of the day. 

Have a look at the Weekend Update that I published on Friday to catch up on more of what happened this past week. 

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