Summary:
Hygrophorus subalpinus is told from other waxy caps by its robust stature, its whitish color, a thick dry stem, the presence of a veil which often forms a ring, and the association with mountain conifers, (Arora).

Cap:
4-15(25)cm across, broadly convex becoming flat or slightly depressed; pure white, may develop a slight yellowish tinge when old; "viscid when moist but soon dry", smooth, "margin sometimes with veil remnants", (Arora), 4-6cm across, broadly convex becoming obtuse or flat, sometimes with slight umbo and the margin spreading or decurved [downcurved]; snow white, not discoloring appreciably; viscid, merely subviscid when old, pellicle (cap skin) thin and scarcely separable from flesh, opaque, with distinct luster, often having patches of broken veil adhering along margin, (Hesler)

Flesh:
thick, firm at first but soft when old; white, (Arora), thick (about 1cm near stem), soft; white, (Hesler)

Gills:
typically adnate to decurrent, close, narrow, soft and/or waxy; white when young, often creamy or tinged dingy yellowish when old, (Arora), decurrent, close (68-113 reaching stem), one row of subgills, narrow, 0.3-0.4cm broad; colored as cap or a duller white; edges even, (Hesler)

Stem:
3-10cm x 1-5(7)cm at top, "usually thick and stout, often with rounded basal bulb when young (but often more or less equal in age)", firm, solid; white; dry, (Arora), 3-4cm x 1-2cm, base bulbous when young, nearly equal when old, somewhat rounded beneath the bulb, solid; white; peronate [sheathed] "to the apex of the bulb" by a white membranous sheath that ends in a flaring submembranous to fibrillose inferior ring that is sometimes evanescent [fleeting], silky above, (Hesler)

Veil:
"somewhat membranous, disappearing or forming a narrow, flaring or flange-like, median to inferior ring on the stalk (just above the bulb)", (Arora), no gelatinous universal veil evident, (Hesler)

Odor:
mild (Arora, Hesler)

Taste:
mild (Arora, Hesler)

Microscopic spores:
spores 8-10 x 4.5-6 microns, elliptic, smooth, (Arora), spores 8-10 x 4.5-5(6) microns, elliptic, smooth, inamyloid; basidia 2-spored and 4-spored, 48-62 x 7-9 microns; pleurocystidia and cheilocystidia absent; gill tissue divergent; clamp connections present on cap trama hyphae, (Hesler)

Spore deposit:
white (Arora)

Notes:
Collections were examined from WA, ID, CO, MI, and WY, (Hesler). It occurs in CA (Desjardin). There are collections from BC at the University of British Columbia, and collections from WA, OR, and NM at the University of Washington.

EDIBILITY

poor texture and flavor (Arora)