Western Wallowas

Quick report

We did some ski touring in the Western Wallowas yesterday (Saturday). There appeared to be about 4” of new snow that had fallen since Thursday. The glaring red flag for the day was the strong south winds we encountered throughout the day. The wind was noticeable even below treeline. Trees that had been snow covered on Thursday were stripped of snow by Saturday morning. As we ascended and the wind strengthened, we easily observed snow being transported onto leeward northwest facing terrain located at and above treeline. We were 100% certain we would encounter sensitive windslabs on steep, wind loaded terrain at and above treeline. Therefore, we elected to stay off the aforementioned terrain. Also noteworthy, a group that was ski touring on a ridge to the north of us observed a layer of surface hoar now buried by 8” of new snow. The buried layer of surface hoar was observed on a north facing slope below treeline.