Avalanche forecast

Silver Valley & Bitterroot Mountains

Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

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Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago.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

Highlights

Stable weather trends since the rain storm on 1/12 mean that there are still stout rain crusts in the upper snowpack across the entire forecast zone.  Covered in a few inches of light density snow, this will slide easily in the steeps...but so will you.  The biggest safety concern right now is falling, crashing, or sliding backwards on the firm snow surface.  Current stable weather patterns continue into the weekend so we don't expect stability to change in the near future. 

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Likely
    Size
    1

    The light dusting of snow we received on 1/17 is covering up the shininess of the stout ice crust underneath.  This is easy to sluff in terrain over 35 degrees.  There isn't much snow, so the dry loose avalanches will be small.  The bigger problem is if you lose your edge in this steep of terrain you will definitely be taking a slide with this snow.  High consequence terrain such as terrain traps and trees could make that a scary ride.  

Avalanche Discussion

This week is a glass half full, glass half empty week again.  We have good stability...but we have pretty poor riding and sliding conditions. The weather remains stable for the weekend and into next week, so I don't expect anything to change any time soon. 

You will notice this week that I've taken persistent weak layers off as a problem.  I would like to still note that they are down there, it's just the crust is acting as such a good bridge that we can't get them to react.  This is a very low probability, but high consequence problem. If you do crash through the upper layers of crust, there is a low probability that you could still trigger these.  If you are out this weekend checking out how bad riding really is and enjoying the sunshine, why not take the time to dig a snowpit and see what you find for buried layers. Chop through the ice and keep going.  And don't forget to submit an observation on the observation page! 

As I mentioned, the surface conditions are a light layer of soft snow or down to smooth ice crust where the wind has pushed that snow off.  We are seeing lots of surface hoar growth from cold clear nights. Not a problem now, but if we ever get snow again if could be a future problem.  We are also starting to see small facets develop above and below the crust layer. Once again, not a problem for right now, but might be when we get our next storms.  

 

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