Blues

Generally safe avalanche conditions will exist this morning.  Firm surfaces will be your bigger concern as you travel in the mountains.  Your chances of triggering small wet loose avalanches in steep terrain will increase this afternoon as direct sun and warming temperatures work to break down melt-freeze crusts on solar aspects.    Avoid solar aspects if the snow is becoming wet, sloppy, and unconsolidated. 

Yesterday, observers in the Northern Wallowas found firm conditions that never softened at upper elevations.  Solar aspects at mid and lower elevations softened nicely by mid-afternoon but did not get to the point of creating hazardous wet-loose avalanches.  Large debris piles from last week were noted in the Slickrock drainage in Hurricane Creek.   A good-sized glide crack was observed (see photo below), and cornices are starting to sag and weaken along ridgelines (see photo).  

If your tour plan has you traveling over solar aspects in the morning, it is recommended to carry appropriate equipment for travel over slick and icy surfaces (boot and/or ski crampons and an ice axe). 

Wet Loose Avalanches: 

Warm temperatures will be pitted against gusty winds and high-level cloud cover for the battle royale of today's crust throwdown.  My best guess is that solar aspects won't soften to the point of creating hazardous wet-loose avalanches this afternoon but be on the lookout for signs of wet snow avalanches such as pinwheels, rollerballs, or sinking up to your ankles in wet sloppy snow.  

If you time it right, you can get some excellent riding.  If you are too late to the party, you might find yourself up to your ankles in a wet sloppy mess.  If the upper snowpack loses cohesion this afternoon, it's time to seek shade and better riding on shadier slopes.

Cornices and lingering wind slabs

At upper elevation ridgelines, cornices have grown large and pockets of wind slabs may still linger.  Avoid recently wind-loaded terrain.  Give cornices a wide berth and if you must look over the edge of the ridge, have a partner spot you from firm ground as they look up or down the ridgeline for additional cornices.  Check out the illustration below to see a diagram of where cornices usually fail and how they can be tricky to assess.  

Wait....isn't there still weak snow down there?  

While we consider the persistent slab problem to be dormant.... weaker snow from January still sits 2-4 feet below the snow surface.  We continue to keep this on the radar, especially in the Blues and the Elkhorns.  It is unlikely that you would trigger a persistent slab avalanche on this layer, but the occassional outlier propagating snowpack test result makes me think of the needle in the haystack scenario.  It's recommended to assess the snowpack structure on a slope scale before committing to complex or extreme terrain with consequences.  

Check out the video below. It's a little on the long side, but I talk about the structure of the snowpack in the Blues as well as some things to think about as we may be starting to think about bigger alpine objectives and the warming of our snowpack.  

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