Trip Planning for Cooke City Area

as of 5:00 am
Today7″ | 10-25 SW
Mar 20 0″ | 6-24 SW
Mar 19 0″ | 3-20 SW
10,000′     03/21 at 05:00
8.4℉
SW - 6mph
Gusts 12mph
9100′     03/21 at 05:00
16℉
106″ Depth
Bottom Line: Human-triggered avalanches are likely in the mountains around Cooke City and West Yellowstone where 4-7” of new snow fell, and moderate winds are drifting snow at Lionhead Ridge. The primary concern is large avalanches breaking on persistent weak layers deep within the snowpack. Choose smaller, lower-angle slopes that are sheltered from the wind and avoid steep wind-loaded terrain and complex slopes.
Primary Problem: Persistent Weak Layer

Past 5 Days

Fri Mar 17

Considerable
Sat Mar 18

Considerable
Sun Mar 19

Moderate
Mon Mar 20

Moderate
Today

Considerable

Relevant Avalanche Activity

Cooke City
Henderson Mountain
Large snowmobile triggered slide on Henderson
Incident details include images
Henderson Mountain
HS-AMu-R4-D3-O
Elevation: 10,000
Aspect: NE
Coordinates: 45.0576, -109.9520
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

From obs 3/18/23: "Watched two riders on the north side of Henderson / Daisy pass high marking. One triggered an large avalanche and got stuck at the crown. Crown was taller than him. Guessing 8-10’ deep and 200+ yards wide. His friend had his back turned to the slide and didn’t see it happen. We were across around the sheep mtn/ Scotch Bonnet area and watched the whole thing happen. We boogied over there as fast as possible to help."

More media and story: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp8qvlfO4sM/ (Credit: C. Diffley)

 


More Avalanche Details
Cooke City
Scotch Bonnet
Avalanche on Scotch Bonnet
Incident details include images
Scotch Bonnet
R2-D2
Elevation: 10,000
Aspect: S
Coordinates: 45.0733, -109.9480
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Attached are a few photos of old deep slab avalanches north of town. 

The second is the south face of scotch bonnet. Hard to tell the depth of the crown but it’s very visible from the lulu road, so probably pretty deep.


More Avalanche Details
Cooke City
COOKE CITY
large natural avalanches north of Cooke
Incident details include images
COOKE CITY
HS-N-R3-D2.5-O
Elevation: 10,000
Aspect: S
Coordinates: 45.0202, -109.9380
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Attached are a few photos of old deep slab avalanches north of town. 

The first photo is a south face north of round lake above 10,000’. The crown was mostly filled in but the deepest exposed part was 2-3’ deep. 

 


More Avalanche Details

Relevant Photos

Displaying 1 - 40
  • "Attached are a few photos of old deep slab avalanches north of town... the south face of scotch bonnet. Hard to tell the depth of the crown but it’s very visible from the lulu road, so probably pretty deep." Photo: Z. Peterson

  • Attached are a few photos of old deep slab avalanches north of town... a south face north of round lake above 10,000’. The crown was mostly filled in but the deepest exposed part was 2-3’ deep. Photo: Z. Peterson

  • From 3/18/23: "Watched two riders on the north side of Henderson / Daisy pass high marking. One triggered a large avalanche and got stuck at the crown. Crown was taller than him. Guessing 8-10’ deep and 200+ yards wide.... We were across around the sheep mtn/ Scotch Bonnet area and watched the whole thing happen. We boogied over there as fast as possible to help." Photo: C. Diffley

  • From 3/18/23: "Watched two riders on the north side of Henderson / Daisy pass high marking. One triggered a large avalanche and got stuck at the crown. Crown was taller than him. Guessing 8-10’ deep and 200+ yards wide.... We were across around the sheep mtn/ Scotch Bonnet area and watched the whole thing happen. We boogied over there as fast as possible to help." Photo: C. Diffley

  • A few recent slides were visible today on south, east and west aspect around goose lake zone. Looked like mostly wind slabs in the new snow. Photo: P. Hinmon

  • A few recent slides were visible today on south, east and west aspect around goose lake zone. Looked like mostly wind slabs in the new snow. Photo: P. Hinmon

  • Saw this natural D2 soft slab off the east aspect of Miller Ridge. The crown looks shallow, so I’m guessing it ran at the storm interface. 3/16/23. Photo: N. Hance

  • From Obs: "Heard tree breakage, saw plumes of snow and sliding snow at the bottom of the slide path. Our group spoke with the sledders and skiers that were on the slope and confirmed none were caught. Skiers reported feeling slide tremble and backed down the mountain. The main breakage was near top of the third shoot from the lookers right." Photo: N. Repphun

  • From obs: "I triggered an avalanche on the way back down the mountain. I'm unsure of the exact location but a buddy said it was under bear tooth butte. I was able to outrun the avalanche, and there were no injuries."

  • From obs: "I triggered an avalanche on the way back down the mountain. I'm unsure of the exact location but a buddy said it was under bear tooth butte. I was able to outrun the avalanche, and there were no injuries."

  • From obs: "Large avalanche with small tree and branch debris. Located on the lower NE bench face of Mt Abundance, near Lake Abundance. There were snowmobile tracks near the slide but could not determine if that was the cause. Approx 2000 feet across. Possibly 4-6 feet deep but couldn't tell from the bottom of the hill." Photo: D Green

     

  • From obs: "Large avalanche with small tree and branch debris. Located on the lower NE bench face of Mt Abundance, near Lake Abundance. There were snowmobile tracks near the slide but could not determine if that was the cause. Approx 2000 feet across. Possibly 4-6 feet deep but couldn't tell from the bottom of the hill." Photo: D Green

  • Snowmobile triggered on a path called "Marty's" above Daisy Pass road. This was similar aspect as the slide on Crown Butte yesterday, and likely had a similar snowpack structure. We checked the debris for a beacon signal to be sure no one was caught, and did not find one. This may have been triggered today (3/12). Photo: GNFAC

  • Snowmobile triggered on a path called "Marty's" above Daisy Pass road. This was similar aspect as the slide on Crown Butte yesterday, and likely had a similar snowpack structure. We checked the debris for a beacon signal to be sure no one was caught, and did not find one. This may have been triggered today (3/12). Photo: GNFAC

  • Snowmobile triggered on a path called "Marty's" above Daisy Pass road. This was similar aspect as the slide on Crown Butte yesterday, and likely had a similar snowpack structure. We checked the debris for a beacon signal to be sure no one was caught, and did not find one. This may have been triggered today (3/12). Photo: GNFAC

  • Slide on Crown Butte that was triggered by a snowmobiler yesterday (3/11/23). This was on a SW aspect at 9,600'. It was 1-3 feet deep and broke on a layer of surface hoar and large facets below a hard slab of wind-drifted snow. Photo: GNFAC

  • Natural on the east side of Sheep Mtn. that was a hard slab of wind-drifted snow on a heavily wind loaded slope near the high ridgeline at 10,500', East aspect. Photo: GNFAC

  • This slide on Fisher Mtn. was a very large natural that broke the night of 3/10-3/11, and appeared up to 10 feet deep. 10,200', E aspect. Photo: GNFAC

  • This slide on Fisher Mtn. was a very large natural that broke the night of 3/10-3/11, and appeared up to 10 feet deep. 10,200', E aspect. Photo: GNFAC

  • This slide on Fisher Mtn. was a very large natural that broke the night of 3/10-3/11, and appeared up to 10 feet deep. 10,200' E aspect. Photo: GNFAC

  • From FB message: "triggered this today (3/11/23) in Cooke City south side of Crown Butte."

  • Large natural avalanche on Fisher Mtn. observed 3/11/23 (screenshots from IG story, A. Mulkey)

  • Large natural avalanche on Fisher Mtn. observed 3/11/23 (screenshots from IG story, A. Mulkey)

  • From obs 3/11/23: "Saw a deep crown today in Republic Valley. This is peak 10383 (just north east of republic peak). Crown looks about 100 feet wide and probably 5 feet deep. Couldn’t see debris or how far it ran." Photo: J. Mundt

  • On the afternoon of 3/11/23 there was a large avalanche in the main gully on Town Hill (southerly aspect) above Cooke. Photo: GNFAC

  • Several avalanches observed D2-D2.5.
    Crown depth 80-120cm
    SSW @ 8800’

    Photo: B. Hoiness

  • Several avalanches observed D2-D2.5.
    Crown depth 80-120cm
    E @ 9700’
    Photo: B. Hoiness

  • Several avalanches observed D2-D2.5.
    Crown depth 80-120cm
    ENE @ 10,000’
    Photo: B. Hoiness

  • Observed 3/11/23: E aspect, around 9,000'. Photo: B. Fredlund

  • Seen 3/11/23, NW aspect, around 10,000'. (This starting zone also avalanched in a similar way around Feb. 21). Photo: B. Fredlund

  • Photo attached of a recent avalanche near Cooke, on the north face of Mt. Republic.  Steep, rocky, north facing.  Everything that I have been seeing the last 2 days has been similar:  steep, rocky north faces above tree line, often associated with wind loading, and cornices.  We observed 4 other similar avalanches yesterday, like the photo attached.

  • A group of snowmobilers captured an image of what we believe was a skier-triggered avalanche on Miller Mountain from 3/2. Photo: R. Stacy

  • From obs. "Around 4 or 5 pm today we rode out of Sheep Creek into the Miller Mountain area. When we looked at Miller there was a large avalanche that appeared to have occurred naturally (to our knowledge). It looked like the crown was 12-24'' and a few hundred feet wide. The debris looked fresh and must have occurred today. Given the depth we assumed it was windslab that had built up sometime in the last few days; however, hard to tell from so far away." Photo: R. Stacy

  • From obs. "Around 4 or 5 pm today we rode out of Sheep Creek into the Miller Mountain area. When we looked at Miller there was a large avalanche that appeared to have occurred naturally (to our knowledge). It looked like the crown was 12-24'' and a few hundred feet wide. The debris looked fresh and must have occurred today. Given the depth we assumed it was windslab that had built up sometime in the last few days; however, hard to tell from so far away." Photo: R. Stacy

  • On Buck Ridge today (3/5/23) we found fresh, unstable drifts. This fresh slab was 4-6" deep. Cracking like this is a sign that wind slabs will avalanche on steeper slopes. Photo: GNFAC

  • Walking along Henderson ridge, Doug Chabot touched a cornice with his ski pole and it broke 40 feet wide. Cornices are touchy and need t be given a wide berth. Photo: GNFAC

  • The slope angle at the crown was shallow: 31-32 degrees. A weak layer of surface hoar is notorious for breaking on shallow-angled slopes. Photo: GNFAC

  • From 3/3/23: "Here is a picture of an avalanche that occurred between Daisy and lulu road just off HWY 212 today. SE facing slope that was snowmobile triggered" Photo: B. Zavora

  • Triggered by skiers on 3/2/23. "....Crown looks 5-6' deep, 150'+ wide and SW aspect." Photo: B. Zavora

  • Skier triggered avalanche near Daisy Pass that was triggered the afternoon of 3/2/23. Photo: R. Stacy

Videos- Cooke City Area

WebCams


Soda Butte Lodge, looking West

Soda Butte Lodge, looking East

Snowpit Profiles- Cooke City Area

 

Select a snowpit on the map to view the profile image

Weather Forecast Cooke City Area

Extended Forecast for

2 Miles NNE Cooke City MT

  • Today

    Today: Snow, mainly before 1pm.  High near 26. West wind 8 to 13 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

    Snow

    High: 26 °F

  • Tonight

    Tonight: A chance of snow before 1am, then a slight chance of snow after 4am.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 11. Southwest wind 6 to 8 mph becoming east northeast after midnight.  Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

    Chance Snow
    then Slight
    Chance Snow

    Low: 11 °F

  • Wednesday

    Wednesday: Snow likely, mainly after 1pm.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. East wind 7 to 10 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

    Snow Likely

    High: 27 °F

  • Wednesday
    Night

    Wednesday Night: Snow likely, mainly before 7pm.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 14. East wind 7 to 9 mph becoming west southwest after midnight.  Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

    Snow Likely

    Low: 14 °F

  • Thursday

    Thursday: A 50 percent chance of snow, mainly after 7am.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. West southwest wind 9 to 17 mph.  New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

    Chance Snow

    High: 29 °F

  • Thursday
    Night

    Thursday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 15. West southwest wind 14 to 17 mph.  New snow accumulation of around an inch possible.

    Chance Snow

    Low: 15 °F

  • Friday

    Friday: Snow, mainly after 7am.  High near 23. West southwest wind 14 to 21 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of around 2 inches.

    Snow Likely
    then Snow

    High: 23 °F

  • Friday
    Night

    Friday Night: Snow, mainly before 1am.  Low around 7. West wind 14 to 21 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 90%.

    Snow

    Low: 7 °F

  • Saturday

    Saturday: Snow likely, mainly after 1pm.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 20. West southwest wind 13 to 15 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 70%.

    Chance Snow
    then Snow
    Likely

    High: 20 °F

The Last Word

Over the last ten days, five people were killed in avalanches in the U.S. A total of 19 people have been killed in avalanches in the U.S. this season. More info on each event is available at Avalanche.org Accidents Page.

03 / 20 / 23  <<  
 
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