Avalanche forecast

Galena Summit & Eastern Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Wed
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

Triggering a large avalanche is most likely as you climb into exposed, windy terrain with variable snow depths. These avalanches may involve either recent snow or the entire snowpack. You may be able to trigger avalanches remotely—from flat terrain below, above, and to the sides of steep slopes.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Triggering a large avalanche remains possible on many wind-affected middle and upper elevation slopes. Unfortunately, the snowpack has weak interfaces both in the upper half (mostly around crusts) and more deeply buried (weak sugary facets) that avalanched naturally during the snowfall and wind events a few days ago. These lingering weak layers take time to heal. 

    Direct feedback from the snowpack (such as cracking and collapsing) continues to decrease, and it feels as though we've entered that liminal space where the first sign of instability you may receive is triggering a large avalanche. These destructive avalanches are most likely to be triggered in windy and/or rocky areas where the snowpack depth is variable and in more sheltered terrain where the snowpack depth is around 3 feet deep (like we found yesterday outside Baldy). Avoidance is still the best option to reduce your risk, especially on wind-loaded slopes. Assume the slab + potential weak layer setup exists on all slopes until you dig in the snow to prove otherwise.

    (12/28/2025)

    Large natural avalanche observed in the N Fork of the Big Wood - Amber Gulch on a SE slope at 10,200 ft.

    Photo: Lundy, Scrivner

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Recent strong winds formed cohesive slabs up to 3 feet thick in upper and some middle elevation locations. Watch for smooth pillows, dunes, and large wind features below ridgelines as well as on the sides of cross-loaded gullies. Harder slabs may feel hollow and sound like a drum as you move across them. 

    Thankfully, wind slabs are generally easy to identify and avoid. Feeling for stiff snow under your boards or machine, and cracks shooting out ahead of you, are an obvious sign that you've found a wind slab. Hard wind slabs behave unpredictably; they can break above you and wider than expected. Small Wind Slab avalanches could "step down" to much larger Persistent Slabs (Problem #1) as the slide moves downslope. 

    (12/29/2025)

    A large wind slab avalanche observed up Paradise Creek in the Western Smokys.

    Photo: Lundy, Scrivner

Avalanche Discussion

Today's avalanche conditions are sitting on the meaty side of MODERATE danger. If you choose to head out in the mountains, don't let the lovely weather lull you into forgetting that we were in the heart of a widespread avalanche cycle only a few days ago. There have been 44 avalanches large enough to bury a person observed in the last week. These avalanches have two primary flavors:

1) Large but specific pockets of wind slab or shallow persistent slabs (~3ft deep)

2) Very large, deep, wide-spanning slabs failing on weak snow from early December (3-6 ft deep)

So what's the take-away? Areas with wind-stiffened snow and variable snow depths are the most likely locations to get into trouble today. Likely variable snow depth areas include wind-exposed upper and middle elevation slopes in the Boulders, the Pioneers, the White Clouds, up Baker Creek, near Tornak and Coyote Yurts, and terrain on either side of highway 75 near and south of Prairie Ck. While the chances of triggering an avalanche may be (slowly) decreasing and the signs of instability may be less frequent, the consequences of these larger persistent slab avalanches remain high.

Regions covered