The Wallowas of Eastern Oregon have incredible ski terrain but the nearest avalanche forecasting and reporting center was the Payette Avalanche Center across the border in Idaho - this was ok, but not ideal. As traffic from self guided groups, guide services, hut trips, etc continues to pick up, the new for 2009 - 2010 Wallowas Avalanche Center will play a big role in helping keep this great area safer and give the users more information to make better choices.

As mentioned here: http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...owas+avalanche The first avalanche death since 1982 happened last spring. This death happened the day after my group narrowly avoided a burial in a class 3 slide (not affiliated with the TR posted above). The family of the person who died in that slide provided funding to get the WAC set up.

Off-Piste article here: http://offpistemag.com/permalink.asp?id=387
Wallowas Avalanche Center site here: http://www.wallowaavalanchecenter.org/index.html

The site is great: good photos, thorough explanations of conditions from around this huge area, great archives for tracking snowpack throughout the season, and nice integration of sno-tel data.

My friends and I have an annual trip to Wing Ridge and we will definitely be better informed and hopefully safer because of this new resource.