Salt River and Wyoming Ranges

The general avalanche hazard is CONSIDERABLE. Up to 14 inches of new snow ending Monday was drifted into easily triggered soft slabs to two feet in depth on the back side of wind exposed areas. The snow has added strain to the deep, hard slab instabilities that plague the region. These poorly supported slabs could fail to the ground and may be triggered by surface slides, a single person, and more likely a snowmobile, even after a slope has been crossed many times. On Saturday, near the Murphy Creek drainage north of the Greys River, a snowmobiler was buried but able to thrust a hand to the surface. He was recovered with minor injuries. The same day a snowmobiler was killed by a 3 to 4 foot deep hard slab avalanche in the Big Holes west of Victor, Idaho. The chance to trigger these types of events persists with the current snowpack.