Avalanche forecast

Southern Wallowas

Wallowa Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
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Highlights

Generally safe avalanche conditions exist for the Northern Wallowa mountains today, especially during the morning hours. Watch for unstable, wet loose snow on steep south facing aspects during the afternoon hours. Avalanche danger will increase during the warmest part of the day on south facing aspects when temperatures are forecasted to rise into the high thirties. Wet loose avalanches will be possible on very steep south facing terrain this afternoon. If or when snow instability is observed this afternoon, lower your risk of getting caught in a loose wet avalanche by moving to terrain that is low angle, or move to slopes that are in the shade.

Forecast presented by @onxbackcountry. onX Backcountry is a GPS navigation and mapping tool designed with your backcountry objectives in mind, equipped with Avalanche Forecast and Slope Angle layers, Offline Maps and more.

Avalanche problems

  • Cornices

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Cornices are those cool looking masses of overhanging snow that you see at and near ridgelines. They can weaken and fail during periods of prolonged warming, like the weather cycle we are currently experiencing. In my travels in the Northern Wallowas I noticed cornices on north, northeast, and east facing terrain at the top of ridgelines. The weight of a human can easily cause a cornice to fail, especially during cycles of prolonged warming. That is why it is best to give cornices a wide berth. Also, cornices tend to break further back than you might expect.

    (1/12/2022) null Photo: Alonso Mendoza

  • Loose Wet

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Possible
    Size
    1

    Generally safe avalanche conditions exist for the Northern Wallowas for today. Watch for unstable snow adjacent to steep, south facing rocky terrain features, especially around early afternoon during the warmest part of the day. Avalanche danger will become heightened during the warmest part of the day, especially on terrain steeper than 35 to 40 degrees. When recreating on those steep sunny aspects today, be mindful of the warning signs that signal surface snow instability. Those warning signs include the observance of wet/mushy snow, sinking up to one's ankles (or deeper) in wet/mushy snow, the observance of roller balls adjacent to and directly underneath rocky terrain features, and rider triggered pin wheels, roller balls, and point releases. Remember, you can always reduce your risk of getting caught in an avalanche by doing your recreating on slopes <35 degrees.

Avalanche Discussion

Yesterday I spent the day ski touring in the Northern Wallowas. I encountered safe avalanche conditions on east, northeast, and upper elevation south facing terrain. I expect the weather today to be slightly cooler than yesterday. Therefore, today I think we will see another day of benign avalanche conditions. Normal caution would be prudent when recreating on steep solar aspects during the afternoon hours however.  Not only did I observe decent stability on the slopes I was traveling on, I observed decent stability in my snowpits. It took a lot of force to get my test columns to fail. Compression tests exhibited poor shear quality (Q3 or progressive compression). No propagation was onbserved on my ECT tests. These tests were performed on ne facing, 30 degree slopes. One pit was dug at 8000' . I saw no crust layers in this pit, which was about 3' deep. The snow height at this location was 215 cm's (7.25'). The other pit was dug at 7200' . In the lower pit I observed two 1cm thick crusts in the upper 8" of the snowpack. My columns failed on a thin weak layer between the crusts. Shear quality was resistant planar, no propagation observed.

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