Prime avalanche conditions

Skiers and snowmobilers looking to play in the backcountry are being warned of extreme avalanche conditions.

“This whole intermountain region is pretty precarious right now,” said Keith Wakefield, a snow ranger with the Republic Ranger District of Colville National Forest.

Sunny skies and fresh snow are expected to lure people into the wilderness as the holiday approaches. Hidden beneath that tantalizing snow is what Wakefield describes as a “weak underlying pack” from earlier in the season.

Rich Gummersall, of the Idaho Department of Parks and Recreation, said the base layer in many areas has iced over due to rain and then been capped with several inches of fresh snow, “the perfect composition for avalanches.”

In addition to avalanche risk, Wakefield warns of other dangers, including deceptively shallow snow. Logs, trees and rocks can be hidden just under the surface, he said.

Snowpack in the region is 64 percent to 66 percent of average in the Spokane area and Idaho Panhandle. Hydrologists are optimistic the picture will improve by April, when snowpack peaks and the melt begins, said Ron Abramovich, of the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

January is the heaviest month for precipitation and the forecast is good, said Scott Pattee, water supply specialist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Fall rains soaked the ground, leaving a good base for the snow capping mountains, Pattee said. Wet ground means it’s less likely the snow will melt into the ground, instead running off to feed the area’s lakes and streams.

But stockpiles of snow in the mountains in winter don’t mean a thing if spring brings dry days. Snowless winter months can be compensated for in the spring.

“The next month is critical for us to start getting this precipitation to accumulate,” Abramovich said. “Once we get to Feb. 1, it’s hard to recover to normal snowpack by April 1.”

So far, the basins where runoff provides hydropower for Avista Utilities are 50 percent to 75 percent of normal for snowpack in Idaho and 75 percent to 90 percent of normal in Montana, said spokesman Hugh Imhof.

“We’re behind, but again it is very early,” Imhof said. “Anything can happen from here on out.”

While the wait-and-sees are waiting, downhill skiers are enjoying themselves. Lookout Pass received 25 inches in a 48-hour period, with more predicted, president Phil Edholm said Thursday. Mount Spokane reported more than 24 inches ofsnow in a 24-hour period this week.