Snow Observations List

E.
Southern Gallatin
Ramshorn Peak
Trip to buffalo horn pass in Tom miner

Toured from the buffalo horn pass trail head to the pass itself. I didn’t go super high only a little over 8600’. I was shocked by the stability the snowpack showed however. I only had 1 collapse all day and that was at the trailhead. I wasn’t getting cracking at my feet. I definitely don’t trust the snowpack but it is the least reactive place I’ve seen yet to a fresh dump. Definitely some recent wind loading up high. I’d say a foot of new snow at the pass itself and 8” at the trailhead. 

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Lionhead Range
Targhee Pass Meadows
Mellow, sunny day tour @ Targhee pass

Mellow ski/split tour up to ridge from the pass day after the storm. Fresh snow in trees was 4-6”, in meadows fresh snow had moved around & was trace to a foot. Tops of trees had snow blown off, ridge itself was windswept & trees were coated in rime/hoar.

We stuck to terrain <30 degree slope and observed no avvy sign. Fun ski down, especially upper glades, & we were there only tracks out there once we got out of the lower meadows.

 

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Z. Cohen
Southern Madison
Cabin Creek
Cabin Creek Whumpfs

We were skiing out of the Cabin Creek cabin over the weekend, mostly in the low angle terrain around Skyline Ridge. Throughout the storm on Saturday and after the clouds cleared on Sunday we experienced consistent whumpfing while breaking trail. Some were larger and some were smaller, usually triggered by the person breaking trail but some of the larger ones were triggered by the second or third skier in the track.

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A. Barrett
Cooke City
Henderson Mountain
Henderson Avalanche - High Res Images
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Pictures of an avalanche on Henderson Mountain just south of Lulu Pass taken on 3.3.24 (avalanche ocurred on 3.2.24).

Just wanted to pass along some high-resolution images in case they are helpful for future education.

Thanks for all you do!

-Alyssa Barrett

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S. Lowe
Northern Gallatin
Very Touchy up Hyalite
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Toured to the zipper for some 25° meadows and while the skiing was excellent, the stability was not. We triggered numerous thundering whumphs and got shooting cracks, the largest of which propagated at least 100' wide! See snow profile attached with test results.

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Anonymous
Out of Advisory Area
Large natural avalanche on Chico Baldy
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

6" snow since Friday at 6000' in Mill Creek, very strong winds last night. Observed this large avalanche on an east face at treeline, appears to have failed on the weak snow at the base of the snowpack. Additional crowns observed in the bowls and chutes above it (these have been repeat offenders this season). 

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Scott
Northern Gallatin
Maid of the Mist
Continued Signs of Instability

Continued signs of instability on a tour in Maid of the Mist Basin. A couple large collapses down low in the trees, wind slabs above tree line on variable aspects due to swirling wind up high. Large avalanche crown (10’ - 12’ in places) at the back of the basin which looked to have been trigger from cornice fall 3-4 days ago. ECTP 28 55cm off of ground on a 5cm thick layer of facets. Pit was dug on an east facing slope at 9,100 feet. 

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W. Shoutis
Butte Area
Flint Creek Range
Snowmobile triggered avalanche Twin Peaks
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Secondhand photo and story regarding two snowmobilers sidehilling the northwest aspect of Twin Peaks and triggering the slide in the photos.  They were both able to ride out of it.  This avalanche is located about 150 yards north of the Twin Peaks avalanche accident site from January 2024.

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BPG
Cooke City
COOKE CITY
Cooke City Observations 03/02

Guides at Beartooth Powder Guides saw numerous natural avalanches near Cooke City. They noted new snow avalanches on most slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Additionally, they saw several avalanches that broke several feet deep on east, southeast, and southwest-facing terrain. 

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Anonymous
Bridger Range
Hourglass Chute
Avalanche in Hourglass
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

From IG 3/2: A skier triggered this slide in the Bridgers.

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I think this was skier triggered, but waiting for a response.

Northern Gallatin
Rider triggered new snow slab
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Photo from IG, slide occurred night of 3/1.

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J. Tocco
Cooke City
Henderson Mountain
Avalanche on Henderson Mountain
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

From email: "We were 3/4 the way up lulu today on the west side of the creek under the Henderson Bench. It broke1/2 way down off the top ridge and ran all the way to the creek. Debris pile 20+ feet. Location matches super slide of 5-6 years ago, we were accros the drainage sitting on the "match sticks" layed out on the trail thru lulu. Ran into the Av center team about an hour before the incident, and as always thanked them for being the best and keeping us all informed! Nobody caught, remote trigged, but we were luckily across the drainage when it went!"

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A. Kautzer
Bridger Range
Texas Meadow
Bridger Side Country Observations

From email: "New Obs from Bridger side country. Toured Texas Meadows over to the playground. Saw some small point releases in new snow on south and southwest facing aspects. At the top of the playground I dug a small hand pit. I suspect it was in a shallow snow pack area, as I was able to dig to rock before running out of arm to dig. The snow was getting wet the whole way through (could make a snowball even out of the snow at the ground level where I was looking for buried persistent weak layers). On the southern aspect of the playground we saw some roller balls that had been covered by the new snow yesterday and today. The only places we saw evidence of wind on our tour was just past the bridger boundary. "

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GNFAC
Southern Madison
Tepee Basin
A couple recent avalanches
Snow Obsdrvation includes images
Snow Obs contain video

We rode into Tepee Basin and saw two recent avalanches. One looked like it happened this morning on a treed ridgeline, 1-1.5' deep 150-200' wide. The other looked like it maybe happened yesterday, on a heavily wind-loaded slope below some cornices, 2-2.5' deep and 250-300' wide. We had brief good visibility of the major avalanche terrain in the upper basin and didn't see any other slides. We measured 12" of snow = 1.5" of SWE that fell since Thursday. Snow was drifted near ridgelines and in the highest meadows. There was some cracking in the new snow around sled skis, but it was minimal.

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We had a few time-consuming stucks along the trail in and out... more on that later.

M.
Cooke City
Henderson Mountain
Henderson Avalanche

Watched a large avalanche come down the big Avi path on the east side of Henderson.  The avalanche covered many snowmobile tracks from that afternoon.  The crown varied and extended for 1,000 feet below the summit ridge. It was a huge volume of snow that reached Fisher Creek. The snowmobilers were lucky, as it was large enough to be buried deep.  

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A.Dunn
Dillon Area
West Big Hole- Beaverhead Range
Another Remote Trigger
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

From a phone call with a friend: "Pretty sure we remote triggered this slide while skiing down a low angle ridge next to it. We saw it while we were ascending the uptrack and it wasnt there on our first lap."

2 Pics are from highway and are from the next day.

N-NW Facing slope at 7600ft. approx 100 cm deep. some stepped down to ground. approx 250 feet across and ran 3-400ft vertical. Large dangerous avalanche.

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B. Zavora
Cooke City
Republic Mountain
Deep Slab Shoulder of Republic Mountain
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Observed Deep Slab avalanche on the Shoulder of Republic Mountain today. Went to ground runout/could see dirt throughout runout. 

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C. Pruden
Bridger Range
Texas Meadow
Unstable test score - Texas Meadows
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

Unstable result on the S shoulder of lower Texas Meadows. ECTP 12 - 40 CM down on a crust facet combo from the last warm up. E facing 23 degree slope, 7639 ft.

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A.
Southern Madison
Bacon Rind
Natural avalanche at bacon rind
Snow Obsdrvation includes images

We were descending through the the trees off bacon rind when we skied upon a natural avalanche that appeared to be from today. The slide began at the top of a small clearing in the woods and went down through the trees below. However, we could not see how far down it went. The crown was roughly 3-4 feet deep and propagated about a hundred feet or so. This was on the eastern facing aspect of bacon rind just south of the normal ascent trail.

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D.
Cooke City
Lulu Pass
Remote Triggers in Cooke City

Two remote triggers from about 250ft away on a slope up lulu pass. A lot new snow and everything was sliding above 30 degrees. 

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