Bulletin d’avalanche

Togwotee Pass

Bridger-Teton Avalanche Center
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Danger d’avalanche

Fri
Alpin
2 · Modéré
Limite forestière
2 · Modéré
Sous la limite
Sans niveau
Périmé — ce bulletin a expiré 4 years ago. Vous consultez des conditions passées, pas le bulletin en cours.

Points saillants

Four to six inches of new snow and wind over the past two days formed sensitive wind slabs that are likely to be easy to trigger in some locations today. Look for signs of wind drifted snow or stiffer, upside down snow on the surface, particularly in the upper elevations and near ridgetops. You'll find soft and stable snow in locations that are sheltered from the wind.

You'll notice a change in our Weather table for the Tetons today which is a result of the hard work from dedicated local programmers and folks from the National Avalanche Center. Coming soon, you'll see similarly upgraded tables showing more weather stations for the Greys and Togwotee areas. You'll also now find data visualization tools from Inversion Labs, including avalanche events and the radial plot for backcountry locations here. 

Problèmes avalancheux

  • Wind Slabs

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

    Very low density (4-7%) snow fell over the past 2 days with a few inches more falling by sundown today. Light to moderate winds from the west and south transported this very low density snow into drifts despite the low wind speeds. Snow sluffing from cliffs and steep drainages may have also formed stiffer slabs.  You are likely to find wind slabs averaging up 1-2' thick today in those locations. These should be easy to spot, and avoid, near ridgetops or other areas that have been exposed to wind. It is possible that a fresh wind slab could reach down to a buried weak layer. 

     

    (1/4/2023)

    The crown of this wind slab was up to 3 feet thick and was intentionally triggered near a ridgetop in the Tetons on Wednesday. It is indicative of what you could find today in the upper elevations.

Avalanche Discussion

The persistent weak layers that were buried at the end of November and the more recent (and much more spatially variable) buried surface hoar appear to be largely dormant in most places. The exceptions are likely to be in steep rocky areas with variable snow depths or in places that have avalanched previously. All areas in our forecast zones now carry a moderate rating due to the diminished potential for triggering the widespread buried weak layers that existed earlier in the season. You could  probably still trigger an avalanche on those weak layers in isolated areas, but you'd really need to go looking for it.  Keep digging and perform stability tests if you want to step out into steeper terrain. A combination of settlement and rounding of grains has left us with more obvious avalanches problems to contend with in the near term but continued vigilance, particularly in the upper elevation zones, is necessary. The wind slab avalanche problem currently in play leaves a lot of room to find good, stable skiing and riding but the danger rating is the real deal. 

Join us in Idaho Falls tonight for an avalanche awareness event featuring short talks from local forecast center staff and a showing of "To the Hills and Back", an exciting film from the Utah Avalanche Center. Raffles, including Rob Kincaid's sled, prizes and more! See our avalanche Education Events page for more. 

Régions couvertes