Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Large avalanches are unlikely. Light snowfall and breezy winds formed thin drifts in exposed middle and upper elevation terrain in recent days. While small and isolated, the fresh drifts and slabs may be easy to trigger. Sluffs in the sugary surface snow are possible on very steep slopes at lower and middle elevations.

Punxsutawney Phil, possibly the world's most famous rodent, saw his shadow this morning. According to "groundhog lore", we're looking at another 6 weeks of winter—let's hope it's at least 10 weeks! While you're waiting for the next big dump, there are a few things to keep in mind as you're traveling in this zone: 

Wind Slabs: Yesterday in the Lake Ck drainage near Ketchum, avalanche professionals remotely triggered a small wind slab from 100' away on a wind-loaded, NE aspect (see photo below). Monday, Ben triggered a small wind slab near a middle elevation ridgeline on Galena Peak. Two takeaways from these minor events:

• Weak snow underneath: The small drifts and slabs buried weak, faceted snow that formed during the January drought. Remotely triggering an avalanche as small as the one in Lake Creek is a rare occurrence and requires a sensitive weak layer.
• Location and size: Both human-triggered slides occurred at ridgelines in exposed middle elevation terrain. The drifts were thin and did not extend far below the trigger point.  

Keep your eyes peeled for textured, wind-sculpted snow surfaces, especially near exposed ridgelines. The fresh wind slabs are not widespread, but they formed above variable snow surfaces (facets, crusts, wind-affected surfaces, possibly surface hoar) and could be sensitive to your weight on some slopes. Although small, they may be large enough to knock you off your feet. Consider the consequences of triggering a small slide if you are traveling in serious terrain.

Persistent Slabs: Weak, faceted snow exists near the base of the snowpack. You're most likely to find it on shady slopes above about 8000' in elevation—especially in the deeper snowpacks near Dollarhide Summit towards the Soldiers. Triggering an avalanche on this layer is unlikely but not impossible. You have the best odds of finding trouble on slopes with the following characteristics:

• Steep: slopes steeper than about 35 degrees.
• Rocky: slopes with variable snow cover due to the roughness of the terrain.
• Wind-affected: slopes where December and January's strong winds produced variable snow depths.

Loose Snow: January's drought and temperature inversions produced a weak, cohesionless snowpack on shaded slopes at middle and low elevations. As the snow surface "rots" and turns to sugar, it becomes increasingly possible to trigger loose snow slides termed "facet-lanches".  Last week, a skier was knocked off their feet by one of these sluffs (observation). Once moving, the cohesionless snow can gain a surprising amount of speed and mass in very steep terrain.