New snow and wind in Tepee Basin

New snow and wind in Tepee Basin

Date
Activity
Snowmobiling

We rode into Tepee Basin and to the north wilderness boundary. It was snowing all day with moderate winds and some strong gusts in more open areas. We could only slightly see the bottom of some avalanche path, but did not see any signs of avalanches (there could have been some higher up in terrain obscured by clouds.)

There was 1.5-2 feet of new snow that fell since Thursday. We dug (3) snowpits on northeast, north and southeast slopes, between 8800'-9200'. The pits on northerly slopes had ECTP 17 and 22 on a thin weak layer below the new snow. We also had ECTP 6 within the storm snow.

There was minimal cracking across the surface in the new snow, but plenty of signs of fresh drifts. It felt likely you would easily trigger storm slab or wind slab avalanches on steep slopes.

Region
Southern Madison
Location (from list)
Tepee Basin
Observer Name
Marienthal and Zinn