Snow Observations List

S. top
Island Park
Two Top
Small slabs forming, Two top
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Out with the Ride Rasmussen trip and found some test slopes to Sled cut.

Was able to produce some cracking and small slabs. S/SW aspect 7800.
Moderate to heavy snow throughout the day. New snow varies from 5”-10” in the deeper drifted locations. 

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Anonymous
Lionhead Range
Watkins Creek
Snowmobiler partially buried at Lionhead

From a phone call:

A rider was traversing a slope when he triggered and was caught in a slide. He was partially buried under his sled and was uninjured. He estimated the slide to be 150 yards wide and a few feet deep and breaking to the ground.

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This was West Yellowstone LEO, Ryan Linhart.

A. Kautzer
Northern Gallatin
History Rock
Obs from today (03/01) - history rock
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From email: "CT13 broke on depth hoar

ECT15 broke as pictured below. " 

 

 

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GNFAC
Island Park
Sawtelle Peak
New snow and wind
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We rode from the bottom of Sawtelle over into Yale Creek. There was 5-7" of snow from last night and 14" of settled snow (2.0" SWE) from over the past week. Wind had formed thick drifts over the past week and was forming fresh drifts today. We did not see cracking in fresh drifts that we rode through. However, with new snow and wind-loading currently growing slabs, we expect avalanches breaking in the new snow and drifts are likely on steep slopes. In one snowpit we had ECTP13 on a thin layer of facets below the 14" of snow from over the last week. This could contribute to avalanches breaking under the weight of new snow and drifts as the slabs get larger. We did not see anything remarkable break on the weak layers deeper in the snowpack, but we are not trusting deeper weak layers during the ongoing loading this weekend, and we expect deeper avalanches are possible to trigger or could happen naturally.

Snow fell lightly all day with some heavier pulses, skies were overcast, and wind was light with moderate gusts from the west. We did not see any avalanches, but did not see much terrain due to limited visibility.

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E. Heiman
Southern Madison
Bacon Rind
Collapsing at Bacon Rind

While touring in the Bacon Rind area today, our group experienced three audible collapses, one of which was extremely large and thundering. All of these collapses were experienced in the flat meadow areas below the typically skied slopes. 

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K. Marvinney
Bridger Range
Wind loading and some avalanches in the Northern Bridgers
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The snow ranger crew was out in the Bridgers today.  The wind had just started picking up as we got out there and the 8-10" of new snow was really moving around.  We spent some time near Fairy Lake and then moved over towards the Throne.  By late afternoon there was lots of snow blowing through all of the bowls and down into the flats as well as heavy wind loading below the ridge top.  The new snow is on a fairly hard surface from last week's wind and warmth and we did spot a few storm snow avalanches coming off of Hard Scrabble.  As we left the Fairy Lake area we did notice several fresh slab avalanches along the ridge top and in the middle of the bowl between Naya Nuki and Sacajewea.  

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Anonymous
Bridger Range
Saddle Peak
Football field slide
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Triggered by BBSP

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M. Mundt
Northern Gallatin
Mt Blackmore
Wind on Blackmore
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Skied the meadows northeast of Blackmore today. Saw numerous loose dry slides on the way up. Didn't see any wind slabs. No whumphs or shooting cracks. SW wind was pretty strong most of the morning. HS 240cm!

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B. Schell
Northern Gallatin
2 obs - Hyalite and Bear Canyon

Two obs - two days ago I was poking around Mosier Creek drainage.  Weird thing was that there was no wind impact - no drifts and snow was still on all the trees.  Other than that, super weak snowpack with lots of collapsing.  In fact at the lower elevations, snow pack was ~24" deep and my dog was breaking through all the way to the ground (she is about 60#)

 

This morning I was up in Bear Canyon - only about half the snow (4") as on the south side of town by SMS.  Pretty bullet proof layer under the new snow, but it seems it came in wet enough that it adhered well.  It wasn't even sluffing off at the break over points.  Snow was not done at that measurement as it was still dumping when I left around 6:30.

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Anonymous
Northern Gallatin
NORTHERN GALLATIN RANGE
Slab avalanche up the main fork of hyalite
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While on a walk up the main fork of hyalite today I noticed a slide on the west side of the drainage south of the maid of the mist 

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Maushund
Northern Gallatin
Divide Cirque
Wind slab activity in Hyalite
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Climbing near the Silken Falls / Dribbles areas from 11:00 to 17:00, we observed strong winds throughout the day. HN was 7-12cm on valley floors, and as we passed the Dribbles on the approach we noted a 20-25cm stiff wind deposit near the base of the buttress was that 1F- in firmness.

Wind transport was intense throughout the day both in areas we traveled and visible plumes at alpine ridgelines with the amount of fresh snow available for transport —a photo will not do the experience justice. Due to the protected nature of the climbs we were on, it was hard to tell which direction winds were blowing from. We observed 15 to 45cm of snow in the gullies we traveled (N & NW facing, ~7600-8600'), with the average HS being 20cm. While there was limited wind stiffening at the surface of much of the snow in these gullies, wind slabs were not present in the areas we traveled. We did not travel to the very top of any gully system, so I cannot speak at length to the hazard at the upper reaches of this wall.

Looking out towards Divide Peak and the Divide Cirque at the end of the day, we noted 3 fresh crowns that were not present in the morning. These were D1 to D1.5 in size, breaking along the base of cliffs, and appeared to be wind slab avalanches from a brief peek through some glass. There was a lot of small loose dry activity that we observed across canyon at middle to upper elevations as you would expect with strong winds and fresh snow. All activity was in line with what one would expect given the forecast and weather inputs. 

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A. Jett
Northern Gallatin
Portal Creek
Portal Creek Meadows Winds

We rode portal creek meadows as an exploratory mission as neither Kyle Marvinney nor myself had ventured there much. New snow from the previous storm cycle had settled to about 4 inches, but it was hard to tell due to widespread wind effect. Judging from the snow, temps up there have mostly stayed below freezing during this previous warm cycle (after Monday/Tuesday storm), though there is fairly supportable crust below the storm layer. winds were blowing consistently 10mph up high gusting to and estimated 25mph. We observed one small avalanche in the riding area that occurred before the recent storm cycle and seemed characteristic of other similarly sized avalanches we have been observing throughout the season.

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GNFAC
Lionhead Range
Lionhead Ridge
Several Recent Avalanches at Lionhead
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We rode into Lionhead with the USGS and USFS snow chemistry, hydrology and soil science teams. At the top of Ski Hill we dug a snow pit and in stability tests we got an ECPT27, that failed on weak snow near the ground. 
From here we rode to Motor Hill via Denny Creek. While crossing below Lionhead Ridge we saw an avalanche in Airplane Bowl that likely happened a few days ago. This avalanche broke 12” deep and 100’ wide. 
Above Motor Hill we dug another snow pit on an easterly aspect at 8600’. We had unremarkable test scores of ECTX (twice) and a PST 63/100 end. We saw a similarly poor structure as our previous pit, with weak sugary snow low in the snowpack. 
This morning with better visibility we stopped at the Hebgin pull out and were able to see 3 recent avalanches along Lionhead Ridge that were likely the result of recent wind blown snow. 

Our snow pit results above and the lack of deep avalanche activity were encouraging and initiating failure is becoming more difficult. This will change with incoming snow and wind so expect the avalanche danger to increase. This storm will hopefully test the snowpack and we are curious to see if it results in widespread avalanches or is able to support the new and wind drifted snow. 

 

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This snowpack can take 1” of water before going to a warning. 
 

This is somewhat irrelevant with the incoming storm but the danger seemed closer to Moderate than Considerable today. Initiating failure was hard and there wasn’t evidence of recent activity following the last storm. We will see what this storm does but long term discussing Moderate danger seems appropriate. 

G. Roe
Cooke City
Republic Creek
Windslabs Republic
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Toured up Republic Creek today. Went to the ridge below Republic Mountain and then to Woody Ridge. 
 

winds picked up throughout the day and by afternoon were moderate gusting to strong at treeline and ridge tops from the W,SW.

started lightly snowing around 1 pm. 

observed 2 crowns in wind loaded terrain. One at the end of Woody ridge on a north facing sub ridge (Peterson’s prow ) and the other on an East facing Ridge seen from the top of Wyoming bowl. 

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Island Park
Sawtelle Peak
Snow assessment sawtell

Rode Sawtell past two days. Very wide spread stout slab formed under the new snow that’s fallen. Heavy winds have scoured new snow away in places and deposited pillows in other aspects. Dug a pit with ECTX results but did not two layers of concern. One thin buried facet layer about 60cm down and the thick melt freeze about 80cm down. HS was 160 on a SE aspect about 8300. 

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S. Jonas
Northern Gallatin
Hyalite - main fork
Whumphs in Hyalite
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Skiing some dog pow across Hyalite reservoir between 7200-7800’ on a NE pitch I got lots of whumphs and shooting cracks while braking trail. This was a shallower snowpack than most other areas, it was still easy to break into basil facets with skis on.

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D. Zinn
Bridger Range
Saddle Peak
Wind Slab Avalanche on Quarter Saddle
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I was skiing inbound at Bridger Bowl today and noticed a small wind slab avalanche that failed on quarter saddle. I estimate comparing the photo to Google Earth that the slide ran 250 vertical feet and broke 100+ feet wide. Ongoing wind-loading and obvious instability. 

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Anonymous
Northern Gallatin
Mt Blackmore
Natural Avalanche off Blackmore Trail
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From IG: This avalanche was from this morning (02/28). It was windy and the gully was likely wind-loaded. One video shows the debris and crown. The pin on the map (below) shows the location of the debris.

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GNFAC
Bridger Range
The Ramp
Strong winds, but hopeful snowpit
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We exited Bridger Bowl ski area via the gate at the top of the Alpine Lift, ascended Bradley's Meadow and The Ramp and dug in one of the Refrigerator Chutes on a NE aspect at ~8000 ft. We found a snowpack that made us pretty hopeful about the direction things are headed in the Bridger Range. Snow depth was 160 cm and we got ECTX results. At least in this location, the weak layers are starting to heal. The early January weak layer was 1Finger hardness. We are not at all confident yet about how widespread this is, but nonetheless, it is nice to see things getting better somewhere.

Winds were calm below the ridgeline, but we could see big plumes transporting in Wolverine Bowl. Yesterday's skin track was completed drifted in in some places.

Around a foot of new snow from the last couple days made for good riding conditions.

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Felt MODERATE on non-windloaded slopes. CONSIDERABLE appropriate for the windload.

T. Parrie
Out of Advisory Area
Still whumphing at Lo Elevation

Touring from 6800' - 8800'  breakable crust - both directions! Lots of whumphing down low but then none above 84-8600'.  

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