Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

You can readily trigger large avalanches that fail in surprising ways on most steep slopes today, from valley bottoms to mountain tops. Avalanches will be larger and more destructive as you gain elevation and move into wind-affected terrain. Skiers and riders remotely triggered large to very large avalanches from hundreds to thousands of feet away on each of the past three days, and similar slides are likely again today. Our snowpack is complex and unstable — treat it with respect and build in wide safety margins.

UNIQUELY DANGEROUS CONDITIONS

You will encounter a complex, recently loaded, unstable snowpack capable of producing very large and surprising avalanches in the mountains today. In the past 10 days, we've doubled our snowpack in many places, experienced a 36-hour long extreme wind event, watched temperatures flip between -40 F to 40 F, and weathered intense storms through 3 separate avalanche cycles. We have a uniquely bad weak layer in the middle of the snowpack that exists on nearly all slopes, and another widespread weak layer near the ground.  Riders and skiers have remotely triggered large to very large avalanches on each of the past three days. One of these slides was triggered from over a half mile away. Numerous avalanches have been observed at all elevations and all aspects, often occurring in places that don't frequently produce avalanches. 

You will encounter two different snowpacks in this zone — a lean one and a fat one. Both can produce deadly avalanches. It can be hard to wrap your head around the variability across this zone, let me attempt to sketch it out for you:

WOOD RIVER VALLEY: The mountains around the Wood River Valley have received the short end of the snowfall stick this season. These hills remained almost completely brown during early-season storms, with snow beginning to accumulate in December. Today, you'll find 1-2 feet of snow on the ground on shaded slopes at middle and upper elevations. Despite the thin snowpack, you'll encounter a slab resting on a layer of weak snow near the ground. Warm temperatures this week helped the overlying slab to consolidate and gain strength. In recent days, Sun Valley Ski Patrol reported widespread cracking and collapsing of the snowpack as they performed routine control work in closed terrain. On Friday, they remotely triggered an avalanche on an E aspect at 8,300' in closed, untraveled terrain. If you are feeling adventurous and you head up high looking for turns above the WRV, expect to find similar avalanche conditions anywhere you are finding enough snow to ski or ride. 

DOLLARHIDE to the SOLDIERS: As the mountains above the WRV languished in drought, the western half of this zone has been stacking snow all season long. There is as much snow at lower elevations here as there is at 9,000' on top of Baldy. At Dollarhide Summit, there are 4 feet of settled snow on the ground. Here, and west into the Soldiers, you'll find a snowpack that resembles that found in the Sawtooth and Western Smoky Mtns forecast zone. The snowpack extends to the valley bottoms, and the avalanche problems do too. There is a lot of smaller avalanche terrain at lower and middle elevations. Here, you'll find many short avalanche paths that end in terrain traps. Imagine sharp road cuts, narrow gullies, and creek bottoms with steep slopes above them. As you gain elevation you'll find increasingly thick slabs that have been stiffened by the wind. You can make very large avalanches here, the type that break hundreds to thousands of feet wide. Be suspicious of steep, snow-covered slopes at all elevations.

So how do we manage this problem? Travel through the mountains knowing that you can make large avalanches in many locations. And that the type of slides you make will surprise you. You may find and trigger avalanches in places where you have never seen them before. Or you may see slides breaking much wider than you might expect. Head into the mountains expecting the unexpected today. Start with a conservative plan and stick with it.