Latest News – Wallowa Avalanche Center

After a long spell of dry and warm conditions we can report 4″ to 6″ new snow in the Wallowas from the storm of the last 24 hours. Continued instability will be with us until Wednesday evening with another few inches accumulation. Then high pressure builds in for the remainder of the week.

WAC would appreciate those of you who use this site regularly to comment on the format of the weekly summaries during the month of March. We are experimenting with some different format ideas, styles of writing and so forth and would appreciate you jotting us a line on what you think about them. Offer thoughts on what changes you might like to see. This summer we’ll be taking all this into consideration as we plan our second full year of service to you next winter. Respond to info@wallowaavalanchecenter.org.

Please consider a donation to us so we can plan new things to offer come next winter. We are moving steadily forward to having a remote weather station on top of Mt. Howard with wind speed/direction and high/low/current temperatures for next winter season. We still need to purchase a couple remaining items, so donations will be used toward this endeavor. Use PayPal or send a check to the address found below.

Thanks,
Keith

In Memory of Roger Thomas Roepke; February 21, 1959—March 7, 2009

This Sunday marks the one year anniversary of an avalanche that took the life of a fine man– husband, father and friend. There are no words to adequately convey the gratitude my sons and I share for our friends and for this community and especially for the Search and Rescue team that came to our aid. Despite our loss, we feel truly embraced by these incredible people that have helped us through this year. Roger would be so proud.

As we celebrate the life of an extraordinary man I would ask you to honor him by loving and respecting the back country as much as he did; be present and enjoy every moment. That is how Roger lived his life. His powerful spirit thrives within all of us.

Lisa Armstrong-Roepke
March 5, 2010

Tim Farrar, an avalanche forecaster in the Sierra Nevadas and good friend to us (The Roepke family) sent the following quote:

Snow means different things to different people. To a small boy/girl it is an inexhaustible supply of ammunition; when s/he makes a snowball s/he is utilizing two of snow’s special qualities; cohesion and compaction. To the merchant, it is an unmitigated nuisance to be scraped off his/her sidewalk; in a big city, snow can be a minor disaster that halts all forms of transportation, tears down power and telephone lines, and costs millions of dollars to get rid of. To the hydrologist it is the most perfect form of water storage; requiring no costly dams, it collects the moisture of an entire winter and releases that moisture gradually through the summer; without it the snow-fed rivers of the West would alternate between raging flood and blistering desert and life as we know it would be impossible. To the skier, snow is an ideal sliding surface for a pair of steel and plastic slivers attached to his/her feet, a combination that has reversed man’s age-old dread of winter; the mountains, avoided in the snow season by our forefathers, have become the playground of millions. Thus the nature of snow depends somewhat upon the eye of the beholder.

Lying on a mountainside, snow looks so innocent, so bland, and to the uneducated eye so unchanging, yet the avalanche hunter knows it to be the most changeable substance on Earth. From the moment the first molecule of water vapor floating around in the atmosphere condenses around some minute particle of dust, snow never really stops changing until it becomes water again, flows down to the sea and begins the cycle all over. The life of a snow crystal can be shorter than a butterfly’s, for it may melt on the way down and fall to Earth as rain. On the other hand, the life of a snow crystal may be measured in centuries if it happens to become part of a glacier. Be it for moments or eras, the nature of snow is that it never entirely stops changing. This is not of course, a unique property. Everything is changing in its own way and at its own pace.

~Montgomery M. Atwater-father of US Avalanche Science

Yesterday (Wednesday) Trevor Miller was in Joseph after a backcountry ski outing in the Wallowas and we finally met face to face. Trevor is the founder of Central Oregon Avalanche Association. Like ours, his association is a grass roots effort to get the avalanche safety word out for the mountains nearest Bend and is based in Bend, OR. Please check out their website: coavalanche.org. We talked about working together for mutually beneficial goals since our two organizations will cover most of the regions east of the cascade crest. We are thinking of making a trip this April up to the Northwest Avalanche Center in Seattle after a cordial invitation not long ago from Mark Moore, the director there.
WAC looks forward to perhaps planning certain events along with coavalanche to promote the avalanche safety word.

A special thanks to Ken Bronec for doing such a thorough job with last weeks summary. Some thoughts are going through my mind about when to terminate the weekly summary. I’m thinking of Friday April 9. Most centers complete their normal schedules by mid April and we may follow that lead. If enough readers wish us to go longer – the squeaky wheel gets the grease – so speak up.

Keith

I arrived today back in Wallowa County to beautiful cobalt blue skies with barely a distant promise from forecasters for a flurry or two of snow for the next 5 days. Hmmmm. Well, the Wasatch range of Utah is getting no better promises for snow either.

I have heard that our beacon practice day up at Salt Creek Summit was packed with good stuff. A little indoor seminar for 45 minutes then all headed outside where the rubber meets the road. First was a single burial situation near the parking lot. Then after lunch was a hike to the bottom of Baird’s Run for a multiple burial scenario that was set up on Saturday. Ken even buried an extra pack without a beacon in case they had time to do a probe line. “We had plenty of time for that and a debrief on the hill. It was a good educational day for all of us”, said Ken Bronec who lead the event.
Many thanks to Jerry Hustafa and Paul Arentsen for giving of their time for helping out in this field day practice session.

This weeks summary will include some fun research stuff I’m working on and learning about from the masters at the Utah Avalanche Center.

Enjoy the week and keep looking for the POW!
Keith

Which is which depends on where you are! I am presently in the Wasatch range of Utah where up to 10″ fell overnight. AND, looks like the Wallowas got 4 to 6″ perhaps? and maybe more on Friday too?

Very eventful and busy here with some play and some research work. As much as it’s sure fun to visit friends here and look at a different snowpack for comparison, I’m looking forward to returning home. Look for the latest summary as usual tomorrow morning (Friday) where Ken Bronec has been busy collecting all the data needed for the report and will be writing it in my absence. Thanks Ken!!!

I may issue a snowpack diagram comparison between Wasatch and Wallowa mtns in next weeks report for giggles.

Keith

Here is one final reminder that the Wallowa Avalanche Center is hosting a free transceiver practice day at Salt Creek Summit on Sunday, Feb 21. We will meet at 8:30 and carpool from the parking lot in Joseph, which is on the right side of the Imnaha highway a block east of Main Street. We plan to be done up there by 3:00 PM. The day will include some indoor discussion about search techniques and some hands-on transceiver drills. We will also set up practice scenarios for both beginner and more advanced transceiver users. We will be using our probes too, since they are a very important part of pinpointing the location of a buried individual.

So bring your transceivers and probes, along with lunch and water, and be ready for a day out on the snow. We will have extra transceivers and probes to loan out to those who do not yet have them.

It is important for us to know how many people are coming so we can prepare an efficient and educational day using the proper number of instructors. Please let Ken Bronec know (kbronec@eoni.com, 541-432-3281) by 7pm Friday evening 2/19 if you plan to attend and whether you need any loaner equipment.

We here at WAC are very appreciative of the kind support our community showed us last night at our first ever big event fundraiser. We did well, raising much needed funds to provide yet more great stuff for you on our website and within the community with educational products, observer data, summit weather data and the like.

We enjoy what we do and are glad we can provide this service to you. Perhaps when we get all the details collected and categorized from the whirlwind event of last night we’ll have more announcements of winners and so forth.

In the meantime – Our observers were busy little beavers last week and provided much data for today’s summary – so check it out!

Regards and a BIG THANKS to all our corporate sponsors (below) and our entire community who really stepped up with their wallets!

Keith

Yesterday a visit up to Wing Ridge yielded some fine turning snow in the trees and wind sheltered terrain. WAC has a bundle of good data this week from outings in various places. Concerns are not much different than last week. Check it all out on Friday.

Just one more day! Our Fund Raiser party and movie night at the OK Theater in Enterprise, tomorrow, February 11. It all starts at 6pm with beer, pizza, concessions, and raffle ticket purchases for an ever growing number of really good prizes. I’ve lost count of the stuff we have for raffle prizes! Really good stuff too!!! Buy tickets to get in the door for only $5. (kids 6 and under free) at The Bookloft, The Sports Corral, Central Copy and Shipping or at the DOOR!! Great TG beer for $4. a pint and pizza from Embers at $3. a slice. Can’t wait to see you there.

Coming up on Sunday February 21 is our field day session of avalanche beacon practice. This is a great opportunity to learn about what beacon to buy if you don’t already have one. A chance to REALLY learn how to use one up at Salt Creek Summit with an ever increasing level of search difficulty. Learn the best way to probe for a victim and efficient shoveling techniques. We want to have enough room for all to attend so please sign up at our fund raiser or jot us an email no later than Sunday February 14 that you’re coming. Please indicate if you need a loaner beacon for the day. Send email to info@wallowaavalanchecenter.org. We will likely meet at 8:30am at the Joseph rest area parking lot and carpool from there. More details will follow.

It’s just one week away!! Our BIG Fundraiser event with avalanche movies, raffles, beer and pizza. Thursday, February 11 at the OK Theater – 6pm. Tickets at the Bookloft, Sports Corral and Central Copy & Shipping or at the door; only $5. Click on the blue bar above for more info!

February 21st (Sunday) is our beacon practice day up on the Salt Creek Summit. Please sign up at info@wallowaavalanchecenter.org and also let us know if you need a loaner beacon.

Today on Wing Ridge the wind exposed terrain was a little wind hammered but the wind sheltered terrain and trees had great snow. Lots of details on this weeks summary – Friday as always!!

Enjoy and be safe!

On Saturday, Keith and I skied into Aneroid Basin for some observation work and found snow conditions holding up well in spite of the warm temperatures. Our skin track from last week was still visible and we estimated that about 4 inches of new snow fell during the week which has settled to about 2 inches. We measured snow depth in several places to try to better correlate the snow depth information received from the SNOTEL. We made our way up a north aspect slope east of Aneroid Lake and dug a pit at about 7800 feet. More information will be in Friday’s summary!

For those of you watching the Wallowa SNOTEL information, we recently received word that that the Taylor Green SNOTEL has received some work and is sending out good data again. We also updated the link to Sheep Ridge weather on our web site.

I will post more information from our trip to Aneroid, including a picture, in the Forum.

WAC has a busy month coming up! Our fundraiser event is on February 11 at 6 PM in Enterprise. I hope to see many of you there!

Our beacon practice session with Wallowa County SAR will be on February 21 and is open to the general public. RSVP to info@wallowaavalanchecenter.org if you are planning on joining us. There will be extra beacons available if you don’t have your own.

Looks as if we received a nice dusting of snow last night with about 3 inches of new snow in the Wallowa Valley.

Julian P.B.