Avalanche forecast

Avalanche forecast

Payette Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
2 · Moderate
Out of date — this forecast expired 3 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

Dry Loose, human-triggered avalanches 4" to 2 feet deep are possible. 4-12 inches of new snow may run on slick solar crusts or buried weak layers on Northern aspects. Approach all slopes on all aspects that are steeper than 30 degrees with caution.

Avalanche problems

  • Loose Dry

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

    New snow along with the old snow on Northern aspects could move with you. The worst case would be on a north aspect where a layer of buried surface hoar under the new snow could fail and entrain older dry loose snow potentially adding up to 2 feet of dry loose snow. Solar aspects have a slick crust that may not bond to the new snow and produce loose avalanches 4"-12" deep.

    Use good travel protocols on all aspects, and especially on large slopes that are sustained or in exposed or confined terrain like gullies rocks and cliffs.

    (3/20/2023) Photo: GH

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Buried surface hoar that formed during the last clear period (Thursday-Sunday) was giving us easy failures in compression yesterday in our test pit North of Brundage ski area. We observed a lot of surface hoar on West Mt and on Council Mt last Friday. The pieces I found yesterday were broken down (2-3mm), but easily noticeable with the naked eye and giving us easy failures in compression.

    The majority of slopes are not going to have this problem so use good travel protocols everywhere...Be extra cautious on Northern slopes that are not steep enough to slide naturally (30-45 degrees) where this layer may be your problem and you could trigger it. Likely spots are mid-mountain or midway in your chosen line where the right protection or factors exist.

Avalanche Discussion

Today's Forecast is sponsored by Franklin Building Supply just South of McCall on highway 55. Thank You for supporting the Payette Avalanche Center!

New snow overnight should be a nice reset even for our Southern end which picked up just over half of what the Northern end got.  Brundage with 7" and Tamarack with 4". Winds have been calm to light and slabs should not be much of a problem and small and should be localized to the highest ridgelines. 

The steeper the slope or the further you are North in the advisory area the more compounded the loose dry avalanche problem may be...Use good travel protocols like wearing a transceiver, shovel, and a probe on your person and only having one person on a slope at a time on slopes steep enough to slide on all aspects, especially steep Northern aspects where you could get deeper loose avalanches to fail.