Avalanche forecast

Elkhorns

Wallowa Avalanche Center
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Avalanche danger

Fri
Alpine
2 · Moderate
Treeline
2 · Moderate
Below
1 · Low
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Highlights

The Elkhorns received about 6" new snow accompanied by moderate west winds.Expect to see dense windslabs at or near the ridge lines.The Northern Wallowas received half that amount of new snow overnight but the wind was blowing moderately from the southwest at the top of Fat Ridge yesterday so expect to see windslab formation on leeward facing terrain in the Northern Wallowas today and tomorrow as well.Assess the snow carefully before recreating on terrain steeper than 35 degrees on north,northeast,and east facing terrain especially near ridge tops.

Avalanche problems

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Expect more pronounced windslabs in the Elkhorns because of higher snowfall amounts,especially on east facing terrain at ridge line.

  • Persistent Slabs

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

    Yesterday while touring in the Northern Wallowas I observed poor snowpack structure on several areas of the slope I was traveling on.I was consistently seeing a combination of semi supportable crusts layered together with weak,uncohesive sugar snow (facets). I performed numerous column tests on north and northeast facing slopes between 7500' and 8000' . All my columns failed using varying degrees of force and I observed propagation at all columns as well.Columns were failing at the Solstice crust/Christmas refresh interface.Columns were also failing midway down on a weak 5cm facet layer sandwiched by crust layers.These weak layers are lurking and could fail if a recreationalist were to find the trigger while traveling on a slope steeper than 35 degrees.See the observation that I posted on Wednesday evening.

Avalanche Discussion

I also observed poor snowpack structure while touring in the Northern Elkhorns last Saturday.Although I saw no obvious red flags,I did find instability in my snow pit that I dug at 8500' . My extended column test failed with propagation using moderate force down 20 cm.The failure occurred at the Solstice Crust/Christmas Refresh interface on an east facing slope.

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