Avalanche danger variable in Panhandle

SANDPOINT — Avalanche conditions in the Selkirk and Cabinet mountains range from low to considerable, according to the U.S. Forest Service’s Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center.

Slide conditions are rated as moderate on northwest and east aspects greater than 35 degrees above 5,500 feet. Natural avalanches are unlikely, although the center advises that human-triggered slides are possible.

On slopes lesser than 35 degrees, avalanche conditions are rated as low, making natural or manmade avalanches unlikely.

However, avalanche conditions will increase to considerable on northwest and east aspects above 5,500 feet if temperatures warm enough to melt surface layers. Conditions were forecasted on Friday to be moderate on sun-exposed slopes in the late morning and late afternoon.

Last Saturday, a snowmobile rider was killed when he was engulfed in a slide he triggered while descending a northeasterly slope in the McCormick Lake basin east of Priest Lake.

Another group of riders rescued Marek Dabrowski, 32, of Newport, Wash., but he could not be revived.

Avalanche forecasters said the conditions leading up to the deadly slide developed from a storm that began in earnest the previous Thursday and continued with sporadic snowfall.

Buried surface hoar was the weak layer on northwest and southeast aspects above 5,500 feet. The avalanche occurred at 6,400 feet.

Kevin Davis of the avalanche center said in the advisory that the weather since the event has not significantly improved the stability of that weak layer, although it has localized the problem mainly to northwest through eastern aspects above 5,500 feet.

“We’ll have some lingering effects. It will take time to stabilize,” Davis said last Tuesday.

Backcountry travelers should expect to find a rain and sun crust with light snow on top, but Davis urges caution when climbing into zones above 5,500 feet. Davis expects the avalanche danger to increase in the afternoon on southerly slopes due to sun exposure on northwestern and eastern slopes if mountain temperatures are warm enough to effect subsurface layers.

Rain today would also increase the avalanche danger.

“We’re not out of the woods yet,” Davis said last week.