24-25

From IG message: "Getting word that a group triggered a decent slide today out at cabin creek. I’ll attach the coordinates to the general area, to the best of my knowledge.

44.86484, -111.22023

No burials. They were able to outride if. But thought I’d send coordinates in case you guys were gonna be in the area and wanted to check it out."

Snowpit attached from an east aspect at 9400', south of Cooke City today.

HS 250 cms, with the Feb. 3rd dust layer about 100cms from the surface.  EXTX.

Below the dust layer there were 1mm rounding facets, that were 1F hard.

No avalanche activity observed, with LOTS of looking around.  No collapsing, no cracking.

Temps around 40F in the valley, but minimal wet loose activity observed so far.  The warmup has been gradual the last 2 days, with good freezes at night.

Also, there was a wolverine up on the mountain this morning!

This older wet slide is a good example of what to look out for especially at low elevations.

This older wet slide is a good example of what to look out for especially at low elevations.

Riding in this morning, we saw this older wet slide on the Portal Creek road down low at about 6400' in elevation on a south facing slope by lots of exposed rocks. For reference, Gallatin River is 5800' in this area.

We didn't see any fresh ones on our way out at about 2:30. 

The most likely places for big wet slides are slopes or areas with exposed rocks and cliffs. Generally these wet slides happen a little predictably in the afternoon as the snow gets wet. We know what time of day they'll happen, but it's hard to know exactly when they'll release, so watch out when the snow is obviously wet if traveling under slopes like this. 
 

You don't need to worry about them in the morning, when the snow is frozen. What a nasty avalanche with sticks, rocks, and dirt in it?

We toured up to the prayer flags on the Ridge above Beehive Basin, got a good view around the basins, dug to the south of the cornice line there, and descended the south side of Tyler's path. Clear skies, slightly above freezing temperatures, and calm wind. The surface conditions were better than I would have expected, with dry snow/ no crust on all aspects other than those tilted south-facing. The lower elevation snow in the basin was getting wet by the time we departed at 2 PM. I would expect some wet loose avalanches this afternoon. No wind loading or signs of instability observed. 

Our pit showed good stability (ECTX). This fits with the pattern of avalanche activity driven by snowy and windy periods that quickly improves with milder conditions in the mountains around Bozeman and Big Sky. We are optimistic about the nice weather and generally safe conditions coming up this weekend. 

Watch out for these three things and you will be looking good to get into a fair amount of fun terrain this weekend in the Bridger, Northern Madison and Northern Gallatin Ranges, and the Centennial Mountains in Island Park: 

1. Wind-loaded terrain where you could find lingering wind slab instability.
2. Cornices: They are really big currently, and we may see a few breaking off with the warm temperatures this weekend. These can collapse much farther back from the edge than expected. 
3. Wet snow: With forecasts calling for above freezing temperatures under sunny skies, we expect wet loose snow avalanches to slide on sunnier (south and west) aspects. These will generally be small and involve only the recent snow, but they can still injure or buried skiers, riders and climbers in steep terrain or gullies where they can push backcountry travelers into terrain traps (trees, gullies, cliffs, rocks). 

Isolated instability can have significant consequences on larger or committing terrain objectives. Stack the deck in your favor by digging down a few feet and testing the snowpack so you don't get surprised. 

Cornice release above the headwaters of storm castle creek which triggered a slab, east facing aspect.  Looked to be several feet deep and ran a long way.

Cornice triggered slab avalanche, maybe wind slab. Hard to say.