Bulletin d’avalanche

Sawtooth & Western Smoky Mtns

Sawtooth Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

Sat
Alpin
3 · Marqué
Limite forestière
3 · Marqué
Sous la limite
2 · Modéré
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Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 3 years ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

You could trigger a very large, 2-4 foot thick slab avalanche. These slides can be triggered from long distances away from steeper slopes. Smaller avalanches involving only the recent snowfall are also possible, especially if slopes receive direct sunshine.  

Conditions are at their worst in this zone's southern and western portions, including the mountains above Smiley Creek.  

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpin
    • Limite forestière
    • Sous la limite forestière
    Probabilité
    Likely
    Taille
    2–3

    Triggering a wide, 2-4 foot thick avalanche large enough to bury people and possibly destroy a house is likely on some slopes; determining which slopes are unstable is difficult. Dense slabs exist on nearly all slopes. Recent avalanches in neighboring zones are failing on facets and/or surface hoar on the norther half of the compass. On sunnier aspects, crust + facet combinations exist deep in the snowpack and are also suspect.

    The odds you will trigger a Persistent Slab are decreasing, but the consequences remain severe. You may or may not see obvious signs of instability, like snowpack cracking or collapsing, before triggering a slide. You could trigger avalanches from flat or low-angle terrain long distances away from steep slopes. Sadly, the only surefire way to manage this problem is to avoid avalanche terrain, including the base of slopes that are threatened from above. 

  • Loose Dry

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

    This zone picked up a couple inches of snowfall in the last 24 hours and up to 3 feet in the past week. There are a few "new snow problems" to consider today:

    • You could trigger loose snow avalanches (sluffs) in very steep terrain. If the sun pokes through the clouds today, these slides could release naturally. 
    • Expect to find isolated, small, fresh wind slabs near ridgelines at upper elevations.
    • Observations indicate the past week's snowfall bonded well to the old snow surface on most slopes, but a couple professionals reported questionable snowpack test results and possibly some thinner slabs that failed on this interface. 

    All of these slides could run fast and far on stout crusts beneath the recent snowfall. These avalanches could carry you where you don't want to go and possibly trigger the Persistent Slab avalanches described above.

Avalanche Discussion

We've received limited recent observations in this zone. Generally speaking, stability appears to be better here than in the southern 2 forecast zones.

The southern portion of this zone (western Smoky and southern Sawtooth Mtns) recieved more recent snowfall than the mountains near Stanley. Multiple natural and human-triggered Persistent Slab avalanches were reported in the Smoky Mtns south of this zone over the past week. Limited observations indicate that this avalanche activity is less pronounced in this zone, but poor visibility prevents us from stating that with confidence.As you move north in the Sawtooths towards Stanley, less snow fell recently. The northern Sawtooths were gradually showing signs of a stabilizing snowpack in late January, but we would still be traveling very cautiously in this area. 

As stability slowly improves, it's important not to bite off more than we can chew. There's a lot of good skiing and riding to be had out there. Don't let this cloud your judgment. Pick terrain you're comfortable with and, more importantly, terrain that you plan to avoid. Don't let powder sway you from this plan.

Régions couvertes