20-21

While on a sledding ad entire with my toddler I found a shaded N by NE aspect on Battle ridge summit RD that was covered in surface hoar and feceting snow under. Total depths 3-6” found some signs of wind loading.

Thanks for doing what you do Forecasters

Went for a tour up Hayden Creek today. Dug multiple pits on NW, W, and S aspects in the 8500 to 9000 ft range. Structure was consistently good, with P to K hardness snow at the base, and 1F rounding facets throughout the snowpack. We did not find evidence of well preserved buried surface hoar. No collapses or natural avalanches observed. Although we kept it mellow we observed several skiers in steep terrain, with no moving snow.

Skinned to a the ridgeline ~1.5 mi north of Hardscrabble North then skied the east face back to the road. Snow very thin down low. As you gain elevation snow gets significantly deeper. Near the ridge ~18 in deep, with some deeper wind drifts. Extremely high spatial variability - over a very short distance near the top of our tour, we found isolated windslabs up to ~6 in deep on top of facets, weak sugar snow all the way to the ground, and areas of relatively stronger snow. For now this slope skied surprisingly well, but seemed like a very scary base once we get some additional snow.

We saw this small natural wind slab on the east side of Miller Ridge near Cooke City on Dec 4, 2020. Photo: GNFAC

We saw this small natural wind slab on the east side of Scotch Bonnet near Cooke City on Dec 4, 2020. Photo: GNFAC