Good morning. This is Doug Chabot with the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Advisory issued on Tuesday, March 3rd, at 7:30 a.m. Today’s advisory is dedicated in memory of Ben Richards. Ben died in an avalanche while skiing on Yellow Mountain two years ago. His mother, Becky, sponsors today’s advisory. This advisory does not apply to operating ski areas.
The mountains around West Yellowstone picked up an inch of snow last night. Under cloudy skies temperatures are unseasonably warm with readings of 30 degrees at 9,000 feet and 41 degrees at the bank thermometer I see out my office window. Today will remain warm with mountain temperatures reaching the high thirties as strong winds continue to blow from the southwest at 20-30 mph. A moist flow will keep skies mostly cloudy with a quick shot of precipitation this morning and again later this afternoon. It’s already raining in Bozeman. Yuk. Luckily, higher elevations are colder and should get 1-3 inches of snow by tomorrow morning.
The Bridger, Gallatin and Madison Ranges, including the Lionhead area near West Yellowstone, the mountains around Cooke City and the Washburn Range:
It’s been windy, but there’s no snow left to transport and load. Ridges are blown clean and the tropical temperatures have made powder snow a rare commodity. Last weeks snow storms produced a few avalanches, but these were mostly confined to new snow—very few slides broke into deeper layers. We were surprised at the stability. I went to Cooke City on Sunday since these mountains received almost three feet of new snow during the week. There were many crowns near the ridgetops from new snow sliding, but I only found two small slab avalanches that broke into older layers. These were found on steep, wind-loaded, south facing slopes where weak, sugary facets sat on top of an ice crust.
Check out these avalanches on our web page: http://www.mtavalanche.com/photos/photos.php
Mark found a similar snowpack structure in the Bridger Range. Facets on an ice crust showed instability in his snow pit and was confirmed with large “whumph” as he skied. On Sunday, two skiers got cracking on a north facing slope near Ross Pass and saw the remnants of a slab avalanche about 100 feet wide. Overall, these signs of instability are decreasing in numbers as the warm weather slowly strengthens the snowpack, which is good, but ruins the skiing, which is bad. Snowmobilers on the other hand can chew through the crusts and wet snow with ease. Ski patrollers at all the areas reported no snow moving other than wet pinwheels rolling downhill. And in the northern Madison Range skiers climbed all over Cedar Mountain yesterday and found stable snow, but marginal turns.
Avalanches are becoming harder to find and harder to trigger. But I’ve still got concerns with weak layers in the upper two feet of the snowpack. Facets on an ice crust are one. Buried surface hoar near West Yellowstone is another. Since Friday, collapsing and cracking in the Bridger Range and near West Yellowstone, along with avalanche activity outside Cooke City, are signs that there are still unstable slopes lurking about. While many slopes are stable, it only takes one small avalanche to ruin your day. Keeping all this in mind, the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE throughout our advisory area.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Make plans to attend the 28th Annual Pinhead Classic Telemark Festival on March 14th at Bridger Bowl. This year’s theme is “The Olympics” with events for all ages and all abilities. Prizes are awarded for everything but the fastest time and all proceeds benefit the Friends of the Avalanche Center. A registration fee of $30 gets you a ½ -day rate lift ticket, t-shirt, commemorative pint glass, multiple laps on the dual slalom course, numerous prizes and awards, and dinner, dancing, and live music at the Emerson that evening. Visit www.pinheadclassic.com for more information.
AVALANCHE EDUCATION
1. March 6-9 the Montana Outdoor Science School will offer a Level I avalanche class. Contact MOSS at 406-582-0526 or admin@outdoorscience.org for more information.
I will issue the next advisory tomorrow morning at 7:30 a.m. If you get out in the backcountry give us a call or send us an email with your observations. You can reach us at 587-6984 or at mtavalanche@gmail.com.
