Professional Observation

Observation Details

Signs of Unstable Snow

Snow Stability

Bottom Line

Spent the past 4 days crossing the Wallowa Mountains from Norway Basin to Wallowa Lake. On Thursday 3/25 we had low elevation snowfall all the way down to 3,000', and roughly 6" of new snow above 7,000'. We observed natural wet loose debris on lower elevation slopes on East-South-West aspects. On higher elevation North facing terrain we also observed Dry Loose avalanches on steep slopes greater than 35 degrees. It was easy to produce Dry Loose avalanches while ski cutting slopes greater than 35 degrees. Small pockets of wind slab were observed in the alpine on NE-N aspects. We did not observe any recent slab avalanches, except for one Wet Slab above Aneroid Lake on an East facing slope. The snow below 7,000' was getting saturated due to warm temperatures and elevated snow levels. High in the alpine, there were some glide cracks forming on Cusick and the surrounding peaks. On Sunday 3/28 the winds picked up out of the West and were scouring the alpine. As we departed the mountains large plumes were observed of Chief Joseph and the surrounding alpine peaks.