Avalanche forecast

Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
3 · Considerable
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Triggering an avalanche is most likely in areas where the wind has built fresh slabs. Avalanches may break in unexpected ways and wider than expected. Choosing simple terrain that is not connected to suspect slopes is a great way to stack the odds in your favor.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1–2

    Avalanches will be easiest to trigger in wind-loaded terrain and may break wider than you expect. You'll find slabs near and below ridgelines, on the sides of cross-loaded gullies, and on aprons beneath chutes. Wind slabs developed on a variety of aspects and well into the mid-elevations due to the shifting wind direction and strength of the winds blowing over the past 48 hours.

    Wind-drifted snow will feel stiff and may keep you on the surface. Watch for dunes, drifts, and snow pillows and listen for hollow, drum-like sounding surfaces. Cracks shooting out from your skis or boards are a clear sign you've found a wind slab.

    On the northern half of the compass, the storm snow buried a variety of persistent weak layers. Slabs are expected to be more touchy on these slopes. You may be able to remotely trigger an avalanche from lower-angle terrain above, below, or to the side of steep slopes.

    (3/15/2025) Small intentionally-triggered wind slab avalanche at 8200' on a N aspect. This broke at the new snow/old snow boundary ~10" down and was in cross-loaded terrain.

Avalanche Discussion

Although spring snowpacks often stabilize quickly after storms, we'd be hedging our bets with a little bit of extra patience stepping back into avalanche terrain after this storm. Why? Two specific pieces of uncertainty are lingering in our minds that will drive our travel decisions today:

1) Where the wind slabs were deposited. With evolving wind directions throughout the storm (SE to S to SW to W to NW) and local terrain driven effects on such strong winds, there's a good chance you'll find wind slabs in unusual pockets. We suspect more widespread wind slabs in upper elevations but observed a whole lot of wind in middle elevations throughout this storm and will keep our heads on a swivel in open mid-elevation terrain while out today.

2) How reactive buried weak layers are. We know that we buried weak surface snow on shaded NW, N, NE, and E aspects and have seen the potential for it to speak up in a couple of recent snow pits. Observed avalanche activity on these layers has been minimal so far - but it's been storming - so our observations are limited. Be extra wary of locations with thin crusts or where no crust is discernable below the storm snow - these slopes will be the most unpredictable.

The take-home is that slopes lacking an obvious slab with stout crusts below the storm snow will offer the safest access to powder riding today. If you sense a slab in any form, avoid avalanche terrain.

Regions covered