Snow Observations List

GNFAC
Cooke City
COOKE CITY
New snow and facets in Cooke
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Rode to Daisy Pass, back around to Henderson Bench, out to the wilderness boundary past Round Lake, and then to the bowl between Scotch Bonnet and Sheep. Low visibility, but no signs of instability or avalanches observed. Close to a foot of new snow.

Dug on Henderson Bench on a NE aspect and a N aspect at the Wilderness boundary above Astral Creek. Facets were 4F+ to 1F hardness and didn't get any break at all in the facets. Did get an ECTP11 under the new snow on Henderson Bench. Dug low on the SE face of Scotch Bonnet. Facets were more pronounced and a little softer (4F). Got an *unofficial* ECTP with extra hard taps past the prescribed 30. 

New snow and wind were the primary concern. Isolated areas where you might get a slide to break deep on the facets are a less likely, but more consequential concern. 

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L. Racz, P. Moreno
Northern Gallatin
Maid of the Mist
ECTP17 Skinny Maid- Maid of the Midst

ECTP17 below wind slab on weak facets approximately 3/4mm in size. Propagation about 80cm below surface. 

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N. Westfall
Northern Madison
Dudley Creek
Weak Snow in Dudley
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

We found lots of weak snow waiting for a load on NE aspects up Dudley Creek. There was surprisingly little wind effect.

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Karl Birkeland
Northern Gallatin
Divide Cirque
Divide Cirque
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Today we went up Divide Peak.  It was much warmer up at the trailhead than in town, with a temp of 17 degrees at about 10:30 am. Went up to Divide Basin and then to the bottom of that southerly-facing slope that you ascend on your way to the top.  It was a bit windy and some snow was moving, but not a lot.  There were small plumes off some of the higher peaks, but I’m guessing a lot of the snow had already been transported by earlier stronger winds.

About 3/4ths of the way up to the ridge we dug a quick pit.  This was in a wind protected area with soft surface snow and no obvious prior wind loading.  By this time it had gotten considerably colder and so we did not spend much time there.  Total snow depth was about 115 cm, and the faceted layer went from 50 cm to the ground. ECTP23, and broke clean and smooth.  There were also a couple of ECTNs in the upper snowpack above the ECTP.

 

 

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C. Team
Bridger Range
Texas Meadow
Wolverine basin obs
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Dig into snow at 73400 in Wolverine Basin just south of Texas Meadows. Got several ECT x and then one ECT n 23 at 40 cm below the surface. See attached photo of hardness graph. 

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D. Combs
Northern Gallatin
Mt Ellis
Mt Ellis (main summit)

Ellis has seen alot of skier traffic since my last submission for Ellis on December 15, 2022.  A quick pit was dug on a south east facing slope at 7936 feet.  Height of snow = 90 cm.  Bottom faceted layer was 25 cm thick.  The top 65 cm of snow is beginning to consolidate into a slab.  We did not experience any signs of snow instabilty.  My previous submitted observation for Ellis noted surface sluffs, yesterday we had none.  I believe there was a slight temperature inversion as we all remained comfortable.    

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H. Coppolillo
Bridger Range
Southern Bridger Whumpf

I skied on the east side of the Bridgers south of the ski area today. We dug a pit on an east aspect around 7300' and found 80 cm of snow with a similar structure to the more southerly parts of the advisory area. Well developed 2mm FC with a few DH cups sprinkled in made up the lower 40 cm or so of the snowpack (ECTP 21 on this layer) with the remainder consisting of 4F to F+ DFs. There was a razor thin "wind skin" I felt while skiing in more open areas below treeline but no major wind loading was present until at or near the ridgeline (pretty robust cornice development already for this time of year though). On our way back up just below the ridge around 7700' I felt a very large collapse that radiated out from my skis and shook some snow off of nearby branches. 

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GNFAC
Northern Madison
Beehive Basin
Getting weak, but not unstable...yet
Snow Obs contain video

We skinned up Tylers and ran into a group of 4 who just wrapped up digging a pit. They had ECTP18 on the facets at 50 cm (HS 90 cm). We skied into Bear Basin in the Spanky’s area. We dug a pit that also had HS 90 cm. A few ECTNs but nothing concerning other than the thick layer of facets near the ground. Weak but not unstable…yet. The snowpack story seems more similar than not from West Yell to the Bridgers and Cooke. This layer of 2-4mm facets will be an issue with the next decent load, but until then the weakening continues.

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C. Avis
Bridger Range
Flathead Pass
Natural wind slabs in northern bridgers
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Natural wind slab, likely triggered by cornice fall in the last day or two, on a NE aspect at 8500’. Propagated ~150’ wide and ran probably 300’. Slab thickness seemed to be 18-24” at the thickest. No sign of stepping down deeper into facets in the snowpack, although adjacent to this slide there was evidence of an older slide (previous to recent storm cycle) that failed deeper in the snowpack.

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K. Allred
Island Park
Centennials - Idaho
White Elephant snow profile and test scores
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

White Elephant drainage above White Elephant snotel @ 8,170'.

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GNFAC
Bridger Range
The Throne
Northern Bridgers, The Throne
Snow Obsdrvation includes images
Snow Obs contain video

We rode in and toured up the Throne. We dug a pit low, on a northeast aspect at 7,850' and the snow depth was 63cm (2 feet). We had an ECTP27 break on 2-4mm facets at the bottom of the snowpack.

We dug a second pit on the north-norheast facing slope above The Throne at 8,400'. Snow depth here was 95cm (3 feet). We found similar 2-4mm facets making up the bottom 45cm of the snowpack, but we had ECTX 3 times. We were surprised it didn't break or propagate. Despite these test scores, we figured recent snow, wind and a large skier triggered avalanche yesterday were signs to avoid steep slopes, especially if they are wind-loaded.

The sugary, weak facets we found may not yet be showing signs of widespread instability, but combined with more new or wind-drifted snow they could create larger avalanches.

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J. Young
Northern Madison
Beehive Basin
Found stability in Beehive

Went into Beehive basin today with a group of people. We dug a pit on a south west aspect just above Beehive meadows at 8384ft to see what was going on in the snow. We got an ECTX for our results.

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T. S
Northern Gallatin
Maid of the Mist
Wind slabs and active loading
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Went on a tour today with a buddy and traveled through twin falls basin as well as the maid. We skied a NW slope off of Palace Butte and found touchy conditions below the ridge line, but great skiing in the trees. We also skied the bowl of Arden peak. We observed numerous recent wind slabs that released naturally in the past 24 hours on NE and E aspects with some crowns starting to get covered up throughout the day. Judging from afar, I would estimate these crowns to be 6 inches to 1.5 feet deep. 

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Wind moving snow in the Spanish Peaks
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Saturday afternoon on the way back into town snow was moving in the Spanish peaks. Nice light 

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A. Alloway
Northern Gallatin
Mt Ellis
Mt Ellis Sat Dec 17th

Skied a few laps on Ellis today, E through NE aspects

No slab avalanche activity was observed (minor sluffing on steep, cold slopes)

Got off the skin track in a few places and no whumphing or cracking

Light to moderate ridgetop winds from W and SW

Trees holding snow; no drifting/ blowing snow on Ellis 

Saw A LOT of blowing/ drifting snow toward Hyalite and the Spanish Peaks at elevations above 8000'

Average HS on Ellis summit ridge 100 cm; average ski penetration 35 cm

Dug a quick test pit on a NE aspect at ~7800' (30 deg slope)

Pit results: HS 130 cm; CT 21 BRK at 85 cm; ECTX

No signs of instability; great skiing. Yay!

 

 

 

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G. Stevens
Southern Gallatin
Specimen Creek
Thin and Variable in YNP

Thin and variable snow pack in the N Fork (?) Specimen creek drainage. Max depth less than 100cm, min depth bare ground. Active wind loading on exposed ridges, multiple whumphs when skinning over wind loaded, low angle slopes. Decent skiing, albeit thin, on low angle W aspects from 8200’ down. 

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Anonymous
Cooke City
Lulu Pass
Small wind slab avalanche
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

We skied on the knob Saturday and Sunday. Dug a pit on the east facing slope just above the steeper roll over. ECTX. No result. Minimal wind loading next to the tree bands. We skied the slope 20+ times (between 4 skiers). 

We took the sled up track around the north side of the knob and below the avy debris from the slide triggered a last week. Only sign of avalanche activity (other then the obvious one) was a small wind slab release on a south facing slope near the top of the pass. Marked on the map below. Photo attached is of the previous slide but the wind slab release would be where the red X is if the photo continued. Looked to be 30ft across, ran for 15-20ft and about 6inches deep. 

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E. Heiman
Northern Gallatin
Mt Blackmore
Test Pit and Observation on Mount Blackmore

My partners and I began a tour today at Hyalite Reservoir with a plan to ski the E and N faces of Mount Blackmore, but with the mindset of keeping expectations low and moving slowly giving time for observations and discussion. 

On our way in, just off the trail in an opening in the forest at 8600' on a NW aspect with an incline of 29 deg we chose to dig a test pit mostly to see if a faceted weak layer might be present on the shady aspects we were planning to ski. The pit showed a fully right side up snowpack with the snow progressively going from F hardness new snow to 1F snow towards the ground and a depth of 110cm. The snow was not wind loaded on the surface at our pit location and our ECT yielded an ECTX and no obvious signs of instability. As we climbed towards Blackmore and subsequently ascended the NE ridge, there were occasional gusts on the ridge that were actively blowing snow. The ascent towards the Blackmore summit only presented small shooting cracks and considerable cohesiveness in the surface snow in an isolated pocket towards the summit. 

We opted to ski both the E and N faces and did not notice any instabilities while skiing the lines themselves.

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M. Lavery
Northern Gallatin
Mt Blackmore
Mt Blackmore Stable Snow

Skied Mt Blackmore today. Dug a pit at 9550ft on a SE facing, 23deg, slope adjacent to the standard east ridge up-track. HS150cm. No wind effect on the surface. 

Had a CTE and CTM on density changes in the top 40cm, ECTN on the same layers.

Pulling the CT block into the pit, the bottom 100 cm was very well bonded and pulled up dirt from the ground with it.

Skied numerous laps, and did not observe any signs of instability. The skiing was excellent.

 

 

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Daniel
Northern Gallatin
Mt Ellis
Mt. Ellis

Didn't see any windslabs yet on NE facing burn scar. Just like ~2ft of loose fluffy snow. Trees still have snow on them, so wind probably hasn't been that bad.

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