20-21

<p>The Bridger Range received 6-8” of new snow earlier this week with winds creating drifts that avalanched naturally and with human triggers. Two to three inches of new snow in the Gallatin, Madison, and Lionhead areas fell onto a similarly weak foundation but with less wind. Wednesday, skiers triggered an avalanche under the Slushman’s Lift that forced hikers below to scamper out of the way to avoid getting hit by the slide (<a href="https://mtavalanche.com/images/20/skier-triggered-avalanche-under-schla…;). The same day, Big Sky Ski Patrol triggered a hard slab avalanche while performing avalanche mitigation work. Thursday, Bridger Bowl Ski Patrollers working on preseason setup noted a natural avalanche in Sluice Box. In the Bridger Range, strong winds continue to move the lessening supply of fresh snow into drifts. Stay off of hollow feeling slabs of hard snow and watch for cracks coming from your skis as indicators of continued instability.</p>

<p>Calming winds this weekend and less soft snow to transport will allow the snowpack to stabilize and avalanches will be harder to trigger. The theme in all these areas is a thin and weak snowpack that will avalanche when loaded by new snow or wind (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBsCjnx1G-s"><strong>Lionhead video</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HbIdWEuo1o&amp;list=PLXu5151nmAvQDzKmH… video</strong></a>). Assess slopes for a slab of cohesive snow on top of weak, sugary snow by digging with your shovel, hand, or sled track. If you find this setup, move to lower angle terrain or a different slope to play on.</p>

<p>The mountains around Cooke City received up to 10” of new snow on Monday with light wind. While this fell on a generally stable snowpack, the story is now more complicated because it buried a weak layer of surface hoar and facets in some locations (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmsDjjnuS_4"><strong>video</strong></a&…;). These areas are potential landmines. We are working to understand how widespread this weak layer is and you should too if you are riding or skiing in the area. Dig down a few feet and perform an extended column test before committing to any steep terrain. If your test breaks across the column, look for a different slope or stay in lower angle terrain. We are cautiously optimistic that we did not receive reports of significant avalanche activity after the storm. As time passes without new snow, conditions will continue to stabilize. Don’t let your guard down as even a small avalanche can have significant consequences.</p>

<p>Every day we will update the <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/weather/wx-avalanche-log"><strong>weather log</strong></a>, <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/photos"><strong>photos page</strong></a> and <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/avalanche-activity"><strong>avalanche activity list</strong></a>.&nbsp; We will continue issuing early season updates and transition to daily avalanche forecasts when we get more snow. If you have avalanche, snowpack or weather observations to share, please submit them via our <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_observation"><strong>website<…;, email (<a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com"><strong>mtavalanche@gmail.com</strong></a…;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>