Avalanche forecast

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Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
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Out of date — this forecast expired 8 months ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Triggering a large avalanche is unlikely. Look for rocky, wind-swept slopes with harder, wind-drifted snow at the surface—these are the areas where you could find trouble.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Recent winds formed slabs in upper and some middle elevation terrain. Wind slabs form near ridgelines and in cross-loaded areas on the sides of gullies. Look for recent cornices, dunes, or ripples on the snow surface. These are signs the wind has been at work. Steering clear of these prominent wind features will significantly reduce your odds of triggering a slide. You can further stack the odds in your favor by avoiding slopes with terrain traps such as trees, cliffs, or gullies at the bottom of steeper slopes. 

    Additional Discussion:While unlikely, some wind slabs may release on facet + crust combinations below the recent snow. These avalanches can break wider and be more sensitive than typical wind slabs. Very steep, rocky, wind-affected slopes with variable snow depths are the most suspect. 

    (12/28/2025) A large wind slab avalanche and widespread wind-affected snow surfaces in the Southern Sawtooth Range.

Avalanche Discussion

While today's mild weather is not expected to change the avalanche conditions in this zone, the storm over the next few days is expected to make triggering avalanches more likely. Today is a great day to get out and evaluate conditions before the storm rolls in - to be aware of what interfaces the new snow is falling on.

We'd like to offer a special thanks to all those that submitted observations over the past couple of weeks! The quantity and quality of observations really helped us put the puzzle of avalanche conditions together, especially during the wild holiday multi-day storm event!

Regions covered