Soldier & Wood River Valley Mtns

Refer to the Galena Summit & Eastern Mtns forecast if you're traveling in the western half of this zone—including the Warm Springs Ck drainage—or in the mountains north or east of Ketchum. We will resume issuing daily Avalanche Forecasts with Danger Ratings if/when snow cover allows for reasonable backcountry recreational access in the bulk of this zone.

Snow cover is minimal to non-existent in much of this zone. 

A snowpack exists on many slopes above about 6500' near the Coyote and Tornak huts; in the Warm Springs Ck drainage, including the out-of-bounds terrain on Bald Mountain; in the mountains north and east of Ketchum; and in the Soldier Mountains. If you are traveling in these areas, refer to the Galena Summit & Eastern Mtns forecast.

At lower elevations and on most slopes facing the southern half of the compass, it does not look or feel like winter in this zone. Access and travel are challenging at best in many standard recreational play areas due to thin or non-existent snow cover. Plan for a real adventure if you choose to explore these mountains.

Some current information that applies to areas with enough snow cover for recreation:

Sometimes weak layers are overloaded by a large storm, leading to an obvious spike in avalanche danger. Our recent loading pattern has been more insidious, with a number of 4-8" storms incrementally adding weight to layers of sugary facets, surface hoar and facet+crust combinations. With each small loading event, we watch for the “canaries in the coal mine”—indications that the snowpack is reaching its breaking point. Each of our recent storms has been accompanied by a corresponding avalanche cycle, and we expect the same today. Given the relatively small storm, we expect most avalanches to fail as medium to large wind slabs, but there's a fair amount of uncertainty about the reactivity of the buried persistent weak layers. Small to large "new snow" avalanches and/or active wind loading could easily be the larger "thump" those buried weak layers need to wake-up and we won't be surprised if we see a variety of deeper, larger avalanches. Be thinking about if you're seeing those canaries.

Keeping to slopes with soft snow on the surface and no buried persistent weak layers should make for great riding today! Just remember that conditions are more dangerous than they have been, and take a conservative mindset.