20-21

Natural avalanche crown observed on October 19th along the side of The Great One couloir near Fairy Lake in the northern Bridger Range.

Photo: B. VandenBos

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Small natural avalanches in windblown snow near Fairy Lake, observed on October 19th.

Snow distribution high in the Northern Gallatin Range on October 19th. 

Photo: G. Antonioli

October snow drifting on Mt. Blackmore after heavy snowfall and strong west winds on October 19th.

Photo: G. Antonioli

A runner sent this photo from Octoberr 16th in the Absarokas... "The old snow has created a bed surface that is a cause for concern as more snow falls, the wind continues to blow, and temperatures drop. Also the areas where the wind has cross loaded into thick slabs is a bit worrisome. Those are easy to see in the photos." Photo: J. Dalimata

Hey again today I went out with 2 partners and skied in Airplane Crash Bowl out of Fairy Lake (so NE lower snowfield under Sac where the Great One dumps into). I’ve never seen it so good so early. The snow is dense and sticky and the coverage is fine. There was some natural avalanche activity coming down off of the cliffs above, I attached photos. Looks like they came down either yesterday afternoon or last night, there was fresh windblown snow on top of the debris. We did observe some wind activated spindrift coming down the rocks when the wind picked up on the ridge and sent it down, very light sluffs but constant. I dug a few handpits and one deeper pit in the bowl (see attached photos). Similar to what I saw in the Absarokas, thick, sticky snow is bonding well to the ice layer underneath. As you climb higher and the snow depth increases, layers start to appear. There is one about 2” off the ground and another one about 7” off the ground that are very obvious ice crusts with some faceted snow in between. On top of that is the thick dense snow. We were alert for activity above us - sluffs coming down off of the ridge in the rock gullies and point releases coming off of the rocks and cliffs above us. While the bowl seems very stable, there is still slide activity coming down from above that could fall at any time; it was very warm and windy. The natural activity we saw was wet slides and on the surface, it didn’t step down into any of the layers underneath just yet. The wind is strong and will continue to load high elevation ridge lines and cross load lower slopes. The skiing is great but winter is here up high and slopes are loading. The surface of the new snow is warm and even the layer between the 2 ice crusts is warm and rotten. The ice on the ground is frozen semi-hard. Thanks for all that you do. Cheers!

Skiied up and around Irma yesterday. Surprisingly good tour. Snow from 2 weeks ago set up nicely. Cooled off and snowed heavily. Woke up at 3am today hoping for a big dose but it warmed up. Sleet/rain now. Buddy skiied Henderson meadows yesterday said it was real nice. Where’s the cold air!!!!