Avalanche forecast

Selkirk Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago.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

Highlights

A stable atmosphere has given the snowpack some time to heal. The biggest story in the snowpack righ now is the rain crust layers near the surface. The rain crusts that have made snowmobile and ski travel a challenge and are still hanging around in most places. Currently, most of the deeper snowpack instabilities are capped by the rain crust. Newly windloaded slabs on top of the rain crust will have slide potential in places of new snow deposition. The firm raincrust has made a good slide plane for snow that get deposited on it. Have extra caution on leeward or cross loaded slopes that look ‘dune like’ or filled in with new snow especially above treeline on slopes above 33 degrees and on NE-E-SE-S slopes. 

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Look for wind deposited snow on top off a firm rain crust. A small amount of snow fell a couple nights ago and is primarily being transported into starting zones. The prevailing winds have been out of the SW so expect to see windloading on SE-E-N-NE slopes

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Persistant weak layers still exist deeper in the pack and still present an issue. During stable weather, like we're seeing now, these layers can be less of an issue but we can't forget about them. Smaller avalanches could step down to some of these layers if triggered by a skier or snowmobiler. I imagine we're not done with the deep instabilities but they're quiet right now.

Regions covered