Snow Observations List

Just wanted to report that I found very thin snow on west aspects in Specimen Creek, with unstable test results today.

Had an ECTP 13 down about 20 cm on the new/old snow layer from last weekend. Couple whoomphs, and observed some stiff WS formation on ridge lines. HS of 90cm and absolute junk on the bottom.

Great skiing on non-avalanche terrain, however.
 

Big Sky Ski Patrol reported a skier triggered avalanche in "The Mullet" in the backcountry outside the ski resort boundaries. One skiers was reportedly caught and carried by the slide. The initial skier triggered slide also triggered another avalanche in the adjacent "Rattail" avalanche path. Details are second hand and specifics could not be confirmed due to low visibility.

We skinned up the ridge of the Throne, and we dug two quick pits on the lower half of the slope. On the E aspect at 7,800' we had a HS of 4 feet. We got an ECTP 24 and 30 on the facets at the ground. 30 feet away, we dug a pit with less than 3 feet of snow, and we got an ECTX in that pit. This showed how spatially variable this area is after the new snow and wind. We continued skinning up the ridge to the top of the Throne, and we dug another pit. Here, we found 190 cm of snow, and we had an ECTP 14, 1.5' below the surface within the new snow from the last week. We did not see other signs of instability while touring or riding today. 

Did a couple runs just to the north of bacon rind, had good runs. Dug a pit and did an ECT test at about 8300 ft on a SE aspect, snow pack was about 4 ft deep. I got an ECT-P10 with a Q2 shear quality. My column failed and propagated on a thin barely visible strip of surface hoar in between the new and old snow, there was about 12 inches of new snow. Also noticed ‘many thin (appeared to be 4-5 inches)slab crowns, on steeper terrain right off the rode near the pulloff West facing aspect, also tons of the same shallow looking crown on the spur road up to big sky on the steep south facing stuff above the road.
 

Skied near Bacon Rind Creek on 2/1/2023. Surprisingly little wind affect, still some snow on trees and a soft snow surface. Excellent low angle powder skiing in wind protected areas. Underlying snow structure very weak though. Weak layer likely from the December cold snap buried ~40-50cm from surface is super concerning, not to mention basal weak layers and new snow interface... New snow from the 1/27-1/28 storm has settled to a soft slab (F-4F) 35cm thick. Still lots of snow available for transport.

100 cms of snow in the meadow at the head of Moonshine.  So much snow took a long time to make it to the top.  I have not seen the summit area wind affected like it is for a long time.  Actually dug a pit and performed an ECT approximately 50 meters north of the of the burn on an east facing swallow angle slope.  Pit depth 135 cms.  There was a thin hard/ice layer at mid depth in the snow.  ECTN with initiations  at 2 locations in the upper half of the snow pack.  An encouraging sign is the strengthening of the facted snow at the ground.  Skiing in the trees was good, the snow is dense.

I went for a walk up the main fork of hyalite (hyalite lake trail) and noticed several small slides on the east facing walls of the canyon. When I made it to Hyalite lake, it was snowing and poor visibility so I could not see the back basin walls very well but noticed a small slab avalanche in the back of Divide basin 

As we rode into Lionhead we saw many slides that either ran naturally or from cornice falls. Most of the slides happened Fri or Sat. Winds are blowing strong at all aspects and elevations. Slopes are being loaded further and we triggered a small slide (video) from 50 feet away (aka remotely triggered). This is a serious sign of instability and we were careful to not get on or underneath avalanche terrain.

Went skiing up in in Flanders area and saw several avalanches with crowns ranging from 1-3ft deep and running a several hundred yards wide. Also experienced 2 whumpfs and some cracks on a wind loaded aspect near the ridge

Not sure if this will be useful information, but it was interesting to me. Yesterday (1/30) in the illumination of the low-angle evening sun, I could see at least 4 crowns in the Crazies with a pair of binoculars from downtown Livingston. Mostly W-SW facing slopes above treeline on the group of peaks surrounding and including Iddings Peak. I am used to seeing windscoured W aspects, and had never noticed such conspicuous slides from town. Crowns estimated 2-3 feet deep, and most slides looked to be a couple hundred feet wide beat I could tell. I’m sure todays wind will remodel and transport all remaining evidence to the E side of the range. 

We rode up to Henderson Bench and then rode up the Goose Lake drainage. We dug two pits today, and we found buried weak layers that failed and propagated in both pits. On Henderson Bench (NE aspect) there was 7’ of snow (HS 213 cm), and we got an ECTP28 on a layer of buried surface hoar 2.5’ below the surface. We also dug on a west aspect above Goose Creek. There was 6’ of snow (HS 190 cm). The 14” of new snow had a SWE of 1.7”. Here, we got an ECTP 14 on a layer of near surface facets and surface hoar 1.5’ below the surface. After two days of finding buried weak layers that failed and propagated on different aspects, it’s apparent that triggering an avalanche on these buried weak layers is possible throughout the area.

While driving to work from Ennis on Jack Creek Rd, I observed a natural avalanche occurring on an unnamed peak.  Approx location is 45 22' 57"N 111 28' 49"W at approx. 9000'

On the drive up to bridger bowl, I saw debris from several avalanches at the top of the ridge south of saddle peak. Aspects E-SE. I didn't get a super good view, but I'm estimating they were size R1-2  / D1-2 and couldn't tell for sure if they were loose or slab avalanches.

From IG “Beehive basin on a east/ northeast slope. Photo taken at 3:15 in the afternoon.”

Some photos of recent natural avalanche activity near Cooke City attached.  We observed about 10 slab avalanches today that ran during this cycle.

Several avalanches in the Goose Lake area. Assuming they happened on Friday or Saturday. Photo: J. Mundt (Beartooth Powder Guides)

From text: "went up to Champagne Sherbet to ice climb but then there was a big fracture on the approach! Got to a safe spot and dug to see - a strange drifted wind slab over the old belay area has created a scary snow cave trap! We bailed out of there..."

We rode up to Daisy Pass to Wolverine Pass then out Lulu Pass. There was 1.5-2’ of fresh snow. There were several natural new snow avalanches on all aspects. We rode past Scotch Bonnet and saw more naturals. The slide on Scotch Bonnet was R2 D2, broke 2 feet deep, and ran 4-500 feet vertical, 100 feet wide. We dug a pit to the east of the wilderness boundary. On the N aspect at 9,100’ there was ~6.5’ feet of snow (210 cm). The 18” of new snow had 1” of SWE.  We found a layer of buried surface hoar in the top half of the snowpack. We got an ECTP 13 on that layer of surface hoar (4.0 mm) 1.5’ below the surface, and we got an ECTP 19 on a layer of 1.0 mm facets 2.5’ below the surface. The surface hoar is the biggest concern moving forward, and it will take longer for the snowpack to adjust to this new snow since it's sitting atop persistent weak layers. We avoided avalanche terrain today.

Took a drive up and around the Yellowstone Club and saw this slide today. I think that is Cedar Mt with Pioneer Ridge in front and to the left. Stay safe out there.

Noticed multiple crowns while driving up to bridger bowl this morning. Most evident was wide crown line on saddle peak below the corniced ridge stretching from the summit towards football field. Another was an obvious crown on what I believe is Argentina Bowl south of Saddle peak. From a distance, this all looked like new snow crowns and didn’t seem like anything stepped down to our buried weak layers. East wind had an interesting effect on the ridgeline above bridger bowl.