20-21

Small avalanche running from Northwest Passage about 1/3rd of the way down the Apron. 20ft wide, unknown length or start location. R1 D1 involving primarily new snow with minor entrainment of old snow.

While climbing on Barronette today, we observed a thin, weak snowpack on an E aspect up to 8000 ft. Faceted crystals up to 2mm in size make up the base, with HS up to 50cm. No flotation required on approach and there it is abnormally icy up there.

From obs (11/30/2020): "The sugary surface snow is running in loose dry sluffs on steep slopes and I set off a small avalanche coming through a steep section, not a big slide but enough to knock you off your feet if you’re not paying attention. It broke about 1’ deep, 15’ wide, and ran probably 30’ before stopping as the slope lessened in steepness."

Photo: J. Dalimata

A partner and I skinned out to Frazier Basin yesterday afternoon and had some fun turns.

A small crown above 8,500 feet caught my eye, and I noticed a debris pile in the basin consistent with a size 1 avalanche on steep terrain.

I dug a pit near the base of a south-facing couloir and found very strong, drifted slabs roughly 170cm deep. We also noted a visible weak layer about 40 cms down, and it reacted to a shovel shear. The snowpack was extremely variable everywhere.

We noticed only the most sheltered areas in Frazier Basin were holding snow. Much0 of the remaining terrain in the northern Bridgers was heavily wind scoured and marginal.

The Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Association put up the beacon checker at the Sage Creek parking lot which leads to Taylor Fork. Thanks GVSA! Photo: GVSA

The Gallatin Valley Snowmobile Association put up the Beacon Checker at the Buck Ridge Trailhead. Don't forget to test and practice with your beacon! Photo: GVSA

Hi! Looks like you guys have been fortunate enough to play in Cooke City a bit, yay! I went looking for snow up in Middle Basin today and found some nice sugary powder and some layers. We dug a pit on a NE aspect in Middle Basin around 9,500’ and got an ECT25 Q3 break. The snowpack is weak and sugary but the breaks we did manage to get did not propegate at all in stability tests. The snow is about 2.5’ deep, on this aspect where the snow was relatively undisturbed by wind there is 8-10” of dry powder on top of the first crust, which is thin enough to break through with a ski pole in a few places and thick and hard in others. The next crust layer is about 20” down from the top of the snowpack and is pretty thick and firm, about 3” thick. Sandwiched between the two crusts is a layer of dry sugary facets, and under the second layer it’s faceted snow all the way to the ground, increasing in granule size and cohesiveness as the snowpack gets deeper. We dug in a few places and every time we got rotten breaks - the snow just kind of mushed down into itself. It’s more cohesive on the south facing slopes, but thinner and more affected by wind and sun. The sugary surface snow is running in loose dry sluffs on steep slopes and I set off a small avalanche coming through a steep section, not a big slide but enough to knock you off your feet if you’re not paying attention. It broke about 1’ deep, 15’ wide, and ran probably 30’ before stopping as the slope lessened in steepness. This was on the NE aspect. Skiing back out to Beehive on a S facing slope, I got some more loose surface dry snow to sluff on a steep slope just by ski cutting it. All of the 10”-15” of surface snow slid right on the ground and ran about 100’. So all the snow that was there was sluffed out. Both slopes were around 45-48 degrees by my estimation. Like I said small loose dry sluffs in these particular areas. Hope you all are well! Cheers :)