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Observation: Northern Bear River Range

Observation Date
1/20/2023
Observer Name
Eric and Amy Flygare
Region
Logan » Southeast Idaho » Northern Bear River Range
Location Name or Route
Southeast Idaho
Comments
We rode a bunch of different aspects and elevations today to see what rode the best. We were surprised to find significantly wind affected snow on the upper ridges. There was major Sastrugi along the ridges and significant wind loading in some areas. We back off of one of our major objectives of the day due to the wind loading. We found cracking and collapsing snow in those wind affected areas. Once we moved to a lower elevation and in more protected areas, the riding was great and we did not find wind affected snow as much.
We rode south, east, and north facing slopes and found great riding in all areas with the exception of the wind affected areas. There were no major recent avalanches other than some dry sluffing in some very steep east facing terrain around 8000 feet.
Today's Observed Danger Rating
Moderate
Tomorrows Estimated Danger Rating
Moderate