24-25

From IG story.

From IG story. "Cornice triggered persistent on a protected north face up Suce Creek. 3-4 ft deep. Absarokas are not like the Bridgers, Gallatins, etc. A few weeks ago we found the entire snowpack to be faceted top to bottom in Mill Creek...."

From IG message: "We remotely triggered this hillside in Taylor's fork yesterday [2/21] from the Ridgeline above it. We were looking for a safe spot to drop down when it released below us. Circled around for some pictures. The snow was pretty shallow, only 2-3 feet deep, and slid to the ground. South facing slope"

Found moist snow that was starting to freeze on solar's in Hyalite at 8000' Friday. Went searching for better conditions up Specimen Creek today. The snow quality was much better at similar aspects and elevations. Northerly aspects stayed dry in both zones but I was curious about the difference in the two advisory areas. Looking at temps from weather stations the southern range has been 10f to 15f degrees cooler. 

Stability was much different as well. In Hyalite, the nsf layer that was formed in late January, looked to be rounding and didn't produce propagating results or clean shears. Up Specimen I had an ECTP15 and a CT15 Q1 on the same layer. This certainly aligns with the forecast. 

On a ridge up Specimen, winds were moderate from the SW and shifted SE in the evening. I did find thin reactive wind slabs and cracking in fresh drifts. Wind was actively transporting on the ridge. I felt wind loaded slopes had the greatest potential to slide since sheltered slopes only had a 25cm slab over the weak layer but I  avoided avalanche terrain regardless. 

Saw a recent cornice triggered wind slab off of Hardscrabble Peak, crown looked fairly fresh. There was a second crown line below the rock band. Conditions were very windy, with snow still being transported. Most snow surfaces were wind affected, but saw no cracking or collapsing. 

 There was a thin melt/freeze crust formed on solar aspects lower down (up to ~500 feet above the parking). Photo: BP

Skied the Bacon Rind Skillet on 2/21 based on the GNFAC's good report from their snow pit on 2/19 and had no signs of instability. Wind on 2/21 was from the SE and was moving some snow around down low (filled in the old skin track) but things were sheltered in the trees. Not much drifting in the meadows towards the top either. There was a thin melt/freeze crust formed on solar aspects lower down (up to ~500 feet above the parking). We were there from about 10:00 - 14:00 and it was cloudy all day, the snow never got very wet or heavy.

We skied in Maid of the Mist basin today. Solars had a sun crust preventing much snow from drifting, although the constant moderate winds out of the west were trying their best. We found multiple windslab pockets in the Fat and Skinny Maid, though these seemed fairly stubborn and were not propagating. Found some well developed (4-5 mm) basal facets in the talus of the Skinny Maid as well, and although we saw no signs of instability on this layer they are something to watch out for in steep thin terrain.

No recent avalanche activity visible except some loose wets and small cornice fall from the prior warm sunny days.