Avalanche

Hailey, E Fork Big Wood and Hwy 75 to Smiley Ck

DavisGalena Summit & Eastern Mtns
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Quick report

I drove from Hailey to Smiley Ck to look for avalanches. I had flat light but could generally see the starting zones of the Boulders, Smokys, and western Smokys. I did not observe any notable/noticeable activity in these locations. 

I had decent visibility into the mouths of the N Fork Big Wood down through the E Fork of the Big Wood but not up onto any of the main headwalls or into the Pios. Despite this, I observed numerous slab avalanches between roughly 7,500-9,500'. The largest were those in Murdock Canyon. Based on the density of activity, there's no doubt there are more and larger slides near the heads of these drainages. 

I observed multiple small slab avalanches in the area near Fox Ck and Oregon Gulch. These were all around 7,200'. I couldn't make these out until looking closer at photos on my computer. I'd guess there are several of these in this area. 

There was a slab avalanche on the N face of Patterson proper, out Quigley Canyon. My view was too oblique to get a good look, but it fits the pattern of where many of these slides were observed. 

Weather

Cloud Cover
broken

Overcast or mostly cloudy N of Galena Summit. Streaks of sun in the Boulders. Decreasing clouds later in the afternoon, particularly above the Wood River Valley. Most of the high peaks, including the Smokys, Pios, and Boulders, remained in the clouds for the most part.

Avalanche

Size
D2
Count
4
Aspect
NW
Trigger
N
Elevation
8200 ft