Regional Conditions for Southern Gallatin

Snowfall and strong wind triggered this avalanche on 1/13/2021. Photo: B. Fredlund

Cracking, collapsing, wumphs in the Southern Gallatin. ECTP 22. West facing, 8200’ non windloaded, 80cm of snow. Broke 50cm deep on depth hoar. Barely a cohesive slab on top but still enough to cause unstable conditions.

We looked at the avalanche in Hyalite that was triggered on Saturday 1/9/21. The slope angle was 33-35 degrees. It broke 2-3’ deep on weak facets below a hard slab, 1000’ wide and the debris was 5-9’ deep. East aspect, 9,800’ elevation. Photo: GNFAC

Skiers triggered this avalanche on Flanders Mountain on 1/9/21. It was triggered out of the photo to the right on a seperate slope around the corner. It propagated over 1000' wide, and 2-4' deep. Photo: GNFAC

We saw this relatively very large, full width avalanches that was triggered on January 7, 2021. It broke on weak, sugary snow below hard wind drifted snow and recent new snow.

We saw this relatively very large, full width avalanches that was triggered on January 7, 2021. It broke on weak, sugary snow below hard wind drifted snow and recent new snow. Photo: GNFAC

On 1/8/21 we saw this snowmobile triggered avalanches that occurred on January 7, 2021. It broke on weak, sugary snow below hard wind drifted snow and recent new snow. Photo: GNFAC

One of four small natural avalanches along Gallatin River that broke during the avalanche warning on January 5th, 2021.

Photo: GNFAC

"...the snowpack was talkative today. Tons of energetic rolling collapses that shook snow out of the trees 50 feet away, and shot powder up around aspens in a Colorado-esque way. Shooting cracks on low-angle test slopes, and isolated small natural slides on steeper, W-facing terrain." Photo: D. Pogge

From email: "Went for a tour today on specimen ridge in yellowstone park. Stuck to terrain well below 30 degrees. Widespread whumphs throughout the tour. Cracking and collapsing snowpack on small convexities. Observed multiple small avalanches on windloaded slopes." Photo: C. Way

A skier kicked off a larger than expected cornice as they skinned up the ridge on the W side of Beehive basin on Sunday (12/20/20).

Doug intentionally triggered this wind-loaded sidehill. Weak, faceted snow broke under a 1' deep soft slab of windblown snow. Small avalanches like this are indicators of instability on bigger slopes. These conditions can be found throughout the southern Gallatin, southern Madison, Lionhead and Centennial Ranges. Photo: GNFAC

We put up the Taylor Fork Weather station today. It measures wind direction and speed, RH, and temperature. Coupled with the Carrot Basin SNOTEL, this gives us a good idea on what is occurring in this range. Photo GNFAC

Light wind created soft drifts of new, low density snow near the ridgeline in the Bridger Range. This wind slab easily cracked when touched with skis, 20 feet along the ridge and 5-10 feet down, but didn't slide. This is a sign drifts will be unstable as they grow with more snow and wind. Photo: GNFAC

From IG post: "Weak and thin snowpack. A little sluff was all it took to entrain the whole season’s snowpack. S. Madison ~9000’ east facing" Photo: @vt.to.mt

From IG post: "Weak and thin snowpack. A little sluff was all it took to entrain the whole season’s snowpack. S. Madison ~9000’ east facing" Photo: @vt.to.mt

Obs from a skier in NW corner of Yellowstone NP: "Snowpack was 10-18” and all sugar / large facets. Surprisingly, on low angle meadow, making some turns turned-out to be pretty good. While faceted, there was a little denseness (word?) to the base. I suspect steeper terrain would be easier to hit the ground. All surfaces were covered with SH - as you would imagine." Photo: A. Crawford

Watch the video HERE!

The BBWC (Bridger Bowl Wind Cloud) on Tuesday 10/27 accompanied 50-60 mph gusts. This strong wind drifted recent snow into slabs that could avalanche on steep slopes. Early season snow means we need to be thinking about and managing avalanche hazard when we travel in the mountains. Photo: GNFAC

Backcountry.com did a social media survey and found that many of us could use an avalanche class. Don't hesitate to sign up for one. Even a one-hour avalanche awareness class is a great place to start. Check out our Education Calendar for an expanding list of classes being offered in southwest Montana. Many are free.

Wind was blowing and drifting recent snow in the Bridger Range the morning of October 15th. Photo: B. VandenBos

Snow on Lone Mtn. on the morning of October 14th. Photo: B. VandenBos

By morning of October 11 most mountain ranges were white at the higher elevations. This picture of Saddle Peak was taken from Stone Creek up Bridger Canyon. About .6-.8" of precipitation fell throughout southwest Montana. The Fisher Creek Snotel outside of Cooke City shows 6" of snow fell at 9,100 feet. Only time will tell what melts and what sticks around, but it sure is a good sign! Photo: GNFAC