Southern Wallowas

You are most likely to trigger an avalanche in terrain that holds wind-loaded snow near and above treeline along leeward ridgelines.  If choosing to ride in terrain steeper than 35 degrees that is sheltered from the wind, you could also encounter small Loose Dry avalanches (sluffs).  To decrease your chances of triggering or being caught in an avalanche, avoid wind-loaded start zones and avoid riding steep terrain above terrain traps.  

This forecast is sponsored by Eagle Cap Mountain Guides, based out of La Grande. 

Overall, the snowpack in the Northern Wallowas looks to have better stability than we have seen so far this winter.   I spent the last couple of days traveling around the wing ridge area and was pleased to find a mostly right-side-up upper snowpack.  Many areas in the shady side of the compass are holding over 2 meters/6 feet of snow, and I was unable to find any buried surface hoar layers in the upper 3 feet of the snowpack.  The one layer of concern worth keeping an eye on is the January 24th Rime Crust which can be found just over a foot down from the surface.  This layer seems to exist in elevation bands of about 7500' and above.   There are some weaker, faceted grains that are just below this crust that produced some failures in snowpack tests, but no propagation in Extended Column Tests.  You can check out my observation from Monday here.  See the photos below for an example of the upper 4 feet of the snowpack on a North Aspect at 8k'.  The layers of buried surface hoar that we have been tracking for the last month or more seem to be less reactive if not unreactive as they continue to gain strength in the deepening snowpack.

Small Loose Dry avalanches on the shady half of the compass will be possible today in terrain steeper than 35 degrees.  Avoid riding in steep terrain that is above terrain traps to decrease your chances of getting hurt by a Loose Dry avalanche.  Small Loose Wet avalanches will also be possible in this steeper terrain when direct sun are on solar aspects.  The same travel advice applies.  Avoid riding steep terrain above terrain traps as the new snow loses cohesion from the warmth of the sun. 

If you hunt for it in the right places, you can still find poor structure in the snowpack.  I dug a snowpit at 7800' on an East aspect in a notoriously shallow snowpack location on the skier's right side of Phat ridge adjacent to South bowl and found myself wallowing in weak snow to the ground.  There was only 90 cm/3 feet of snow in this location.  See the photo below of weak and uncohesive sugar snow near the ground.  The good news is that in this location, there was no slab above the weak snow.  No slab, no problem... but this is just one data point. 

Here's the takehome as our snowpack continues to gain strength:  Avoid wind loaded terrain.  Use small inconsequential test slopes to test the reactivity of wind slabs using your skis or machine.  Where shallow snowpacks exist (less than 4 feet), it is important to avoid areas that hold a cohesive slab above sugar snow.  Avoid trigger points such as rocky convex rollovers with terrain steeper than 35 degrees.  Be aware of avalanche paths that may be connected to areas with shallower snowpacks.  Even in times of decreased avalanche hazard, continue to only expose one rider at a time to avalanche terrain, keep eyes on them, and regroup in safe locations out of the runout of any avalanche path.  

Thank you for your recent observations...you are adding valuable information to our forecasts.  Keep 'em comin'!