Avalanche Alley, Fish Lake, Southern Wallowas

Wet and sloppy summarize our travel from Clear Creek up to about 6000'.  Limited visibility from snow and clouds limited our observations of other natural avalanches.  We received 3-4" of new snow during our ride.  There was good quality riding on slopes less than 30 degrees above 6,000'.   I know we keep beating this drum, but it's not the time to push it out there.  Keep wide terrain margins as our snowpack hopefully starts to heal.... If you want a more stable snowpack, go to the Blues.  

2 Recent Large avalanches were observed. Inconsistent test results (ECTX, CTV, CT20SP). Poor snowpack structure was observed.

Two large natural avalanches and recent reports of others (Simmons Ridge) in the Southern Wallowas is all the bulls-eye data we need to know we are dealing with an angry dragon.  We conducted a crown profile of the Avalanche Alley recent natural, and found a total snowpack depth of 200 cm/6.5' and an average crown height of 120 cm/4 feet of snow ranging from F+ to Pencil hard snow sitting on a layer of facets that was buried on January 4th.   We conducted some snowpack tests at or near the crown.  CTV (column failed on Isolation).  CT20SP down 120cm.  ECTX (No Propagation), and PST40/125(end) down 120cm. PST 50/125 down 125cm.  The collapsing and cracking that has been observed in this zone was not noted today- meaning you may not get as many obvious clues to the instability below you.   Let this not make you complacent, as the potential for triggering a large deadly avalanche is very real.  Areas to avoid would be thin, rocky spots within the snowpack.  This is where we believe you could awaken the dragon. 

We did note other failures within the upper snowpack- mostly on density changes and preserved lighter-density snow.  Triggering an avalanche in one of these upper layers could easily put enough weight on our house of cards to trigger a deeper and more destructive avalanche.