Avalanche forecast

Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Triggering a dangerous avalanche is most likely on steep, wind-affected slopes—especially those with stiff or hard drifts of windblown snow. You can avoid most risk of triggering a slide by sticking to wind-sheltered terrain. Avalanches can be triggered remotely—from below, above, and to the sides of steeper terrain.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    2–3

    The more recent weak layer in the top 2' of the snowpack is showing signs of giving up the ghost. As a result, our attention returns to our old, familiar friend—the December facets near the base of the snowpack. In the western portions of this zone (Soldiers, Dollarhide area) and at upper elevations, the snowpack depth is greater and this layer is buried beneath a 2-3' thick slab and is becoming difficult to trigger. Where the snowpack is a bit thinner, the facets are even weaker and may be more easily affected by your weight. Throw in the effects from last week's wind event, and you have a highly variable snowpack. If I were to make some generalizations and describe two areas where you are more likely to trigger a slide, they would be:

    1. Steep (over 35 degrees), rocky, wind-affected, "prime-time" terrain. On the western side of this zone where the snowpack is deeper, this type of terrain will have more trigger points where your weight can more easily impact the deeper weak layer.
    2. Where you find old, harder wind slabs from the recent wind event. Especially where the snowpack remains thinner, these stiff wind slabs may be sitting over weak, faceted snow. Yesterday, a rider between Wells and Dollarhide Summits triggered an avalanche on a slope that likely had a snowpack that matched this description.

    (2/12/2021) This avalanche was triggered by a rider NE of Wells Summit in the Soldier & Wood River Valley zone. The slide broke around 40' wide and carried the rider about 100 yards. A section of the cornice also released in the slide.

Avalanche Discussion

The avalanche conditions are almost always a good news/bad news situation. First the good news: we're slowly emerging from the deep, dark forest of dangerous avalanche conditions we've been lost in almost the entire winter. And now for the bad news: snowpack stability had become extremely variable across the forecast area. What this means is that you'll need to do a bit more homework to fully understand the conditions in the area you plan to ride in. Here are some tips to help you know before you go:

  • Understand what zone you're heading to. If you don't know, our new Trip Planner tool can help you locate yourself within our forecast zones.
  • Read the forecast carefully, paying attention to clues indicating where you're more likely to trigger slides.
  • Form a guess as to the average depth of the snowpack where you're headed. Where the snowpack is deeper than about 4', you're likely to find more predictable conditions. Where the snowpack is shallower, expect to find more variation as you move from slope to slope—especially in those areas exposed to the wind.
  • Hot tip: skiing and riding on wind-sheltered, mid-elevation slopes is very good right now, especially further north where more new snow has piled up. By sticking to these sheltered slopes, you can avoid most of the risk of triggering a slide.

Be sure to catch up on the happenings this past week in Ethan's latest Weekend Update.

Regions covered