Bulletin d’avalanche

Northern Wallowas

Wallowa Avalanche Center
Voir sur la carte

Danger d’avalanche

Sat
Alpin
3 · Marqué
Limite forestière
2 · Modéré
Sous la limite
1 · Faible
Open full map
Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 6 months ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

New snow and wind have added load to a weak snowpack, and human triggered avalanches remain likely above 8000'. Carefully evaluate the stiffness of the snow you are travelling on and watch for cracking or collapsing. Avoid steep terrain where a slab has formed. Avalanche likelihood and size will increase as you gain elevation.

Today's forecast is sponsored by Flow State Home Services in Wallowa County.

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Storm Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–2

    Recent storms have dumped over a foot of new snow since Valentine's Day, which is starting to form a cohesive slab. This problem has been observed on a large variety of aspects and elevations, and will likely be more obvious at upper elevations where preferential deposition from the wind has formed a stiffer slab. Cracking around your skis, machine, or in the corners of your skintrack is a sign a slab has formed. Hand shears and small test slopes are excellent tools to help identify this problem. Carefully monitor the size and depth of these slabs as they continue to settle, and avoid terrain where you find more than 4" of cohesive snow on the surface. 

    (2/18/2026)

    A shooting crack in sheltered terrain around 7000'. 

    Photo: Sarah Jakober

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Possible
    Taille
    1–2.5

    The Wallowas have received over 2' of snow since February 8th, ending the January drought and burying a layer of facets. These facets are becoming reactive in snowpack tests and observers have started to report collapsing (or whumpfing). These grains are less of a concern in areas where thick crusts formed on the surface before February 8th.

    Surface hoar was also observed up to 8400' in the Southern Wallowas before the Valentine's Day storm, specific to sheltered terrain facing north and east, and has been found buried intact in a few locations. 

    Managing this instability will require patience. Persistent slabs are notorious for giving little to no feedback. Tracks on a slope do not indicate the absence of a problem. Consider the consequences of even a small storm slab, should it step down and trigger deeper layers. If you find a cohesive slab over weak facets or buried surface hoar, avoid avalanche terrain.

Avalanche Discussion

The Wallowas are a range with high spatial variability, meaning conditions can change quickly from drainage to drainage. Remember that elevation bands are not definite boundaries; for example the interior typically receives more snow and less wind than the perimeter. Use the forecast as a starting point, but continue assessing conditions as you travel. The avalanche danger may be lower where you're skiing, but can change quickly on a slope by slope basis given the nature of persistent weak layers. 

Careful snowpack evaluation will be critical in the coming weeks given the continued possibility of overlapping new and old snow problems. Choosing low consequence terrain will be the key to successfully managing these hazards. 

If you are out in the mountains, please send us an observation of what you saw. All observations are noteworthy and greatly help the forecasters. If you don't want everyone to see where you went you can set it to private so only the forecasters will see it. 

Régions couvertes