Warm Lake Area

Quick report

We skied in north and west facing terrain from 5,200' to 8,200'. The danger rating was considerable in both the PAC forecast area, as well as the Banner Summit (Sawtooth Avalanche Center) forecast area - which can be relevant for this part of the region. This was our first trip into this region this season, and we planned a tour with options for ascending and descending that could be adjusted depending on our observations and would allow us to step into avalanche terrain if we did not observe significant instability/red flags. During our initial ascent through north facing terrain from 5,200'-7,200', we did not observe any red flags. Wind loading was minimal and we did not experience any collapses or see any shooting cracks. We skied our first run in a north-facing burn that was mostly below 30 degrees. We decided to head towards a steeper west-facing run using an ascent route that kept us out of avalanche terrain. We continued to see minimal signs of wind loading or instability (both midslope and on the ridgetop), and decided we felt comfortable skiing a steeper west/northwest run. We skied one at a time and observed no signs of instability. Our exit involved more north facing terrain that also showed no red flags/signs of instability. Weather: started out at around 10 degrees, winds were light and variable, sun was in and out and there were minimal periods of direct sun. Overall, this region gets less snow, and our observations were consistent with that. There was a foot of new, low density snow at 5,200'.