Toured up Bacon Rind this afternoon. Observed several whumpfs and shooting cracks while skinning above 8000 ft. Results of snowpit were:
Elevation: 8600 ft
Aspect: E
Slope Angle: 20°
HS: 65 cm
ECTP4 Q2 @ 38 cm
Broke on basal facets.
Riding north of Cooke City we saw numerous natural wind slab avalanches on Sheep Mountain, Miller Mountain, Wolverine Peak, Mt. Abundance and near Goose Lake. These avalanches mostly appears to have have broken during the storm, but the slide on Miller appeared to be fresh this morning.,
All the slides broke underneath newly wind drifted snow. Most of these slides were small, but several broke 300-500 ft wide and ran 500-1000 vertical ft. Crowns were generally 1-3ft deep, with a couple breaking into much deeper drifts.
Two natural wind slab avalanches on a heavily wind loaded slopes on the northern flank of Sheep Mountain, outside Cooke City. Photo taken 12/23.
Photo: GNFAC
Natural avalanche on Miller Mountain, outside Cooke City. Photo taken on 12/23. Looks to have broken overnight underneath the new storm snow. Approximately 500 ft wide and ran 500 ft vertical.
Photo: GNFAC
Seems like you guys aren’t exactly hurting for Cooke obs these days, but for what it’s worth I skied Woody Ridge today and found similar conditions as what everyone else has been reporting. HS 165cm ~9600’, ECTP-13 on 1-3mm FC 45 cm down. One very large collapse in the flats approaching this morning, and a few more isolated wumphs higher up. I also noticed a relatively small (D 1.5-2, R1?) avalanche on the East face of Republic across the valley, unfortunately I didn’t have my telephoto lens so I couldn’t get a decent picture.
Natural avalanche on Sheep Mountain, outside Cooke City. Broke beneath a cornice on a heavily wind-loaded steep slope. Photo taken on 12/23. Appears to have broken during the storm on 12/21 or 12/22.
Photo: GNFAC
HS 85cm
ETCP11@35cm
35cm of F facets at bottom of snowpack
