21-22

Snow depth 110cm, ECTX x2, CTN & CT 27 Q3 37cm, found no new snow instabilities, found crust with facets above and below at 37cm.

Snowmobiled up to 9000ft, skinned up West face of Comet to 10K ft and skied low angle trees back to sled. Heavy windload with cross loading common on this slope. Dug a pit at 9200 ft, W aspect, 28 degree slope. Height of snow was 110 cm, about 3 and a half feet deep. Photo shows hand hardness profile in snowpit with faceted weak layers of concern in mid and lower snowpack. Extended column test had propagation on 18 (ECTP 18) on large facets (see photo) around a crust about 40 cm up from ground. No cracking or collapsing observed on tour.

Snowmobiled up to 9000ft, skinned up West face of Comet to 10K ft and skied low angle trees back to sled. Heavy windload with cross loading common on this slope. Dug a pit at 9200 ft, W aspect, 28 degree slope. Height of snow was 110 cm, about 3 and a half feet deep. Photo shows hand hardness profile in snowpit with faceted weak layers of concern in mid and lower snowpack. Extended column test had propagation on 18 (ECTP 18) on large facets (see photo) around a crust about 40cm up from ground. No cracking or collapsing observed on tour. Good coverage for this time of year on this slope.

See obs in forecaster google doc

Snowmobilers riding near Mount Abundance north of Cooke City triggered two avalanches on Dec. 27th. No one was caught or injured. Photo: Anonymous

Snowmobilers riding near Mount Abundance north of Cooke City triggered two avalanches on Dec. 27th. No one was caught or injured. Photo: Anonymous

2021/12/28 Beehive basin

While skinning in Beehive Basin today, we dug a pit at the base of Tyler’s trees on a South West facing slope. Our pit was roughly 70 cm deeps. With our ECT Test we saw propagation at 16cm above the ground at the deep faceted layer. This pit did contain a rock at ground level. We dug another pit at the top of Tyler’s trees on a S/W facing slope where we had ECT N@10 and 18 with no propagation. This pit showed poor structure and good a stability. At the top of the ridge we saw inconsistent wind loaded pockets. We dug another pit at the top of the ridge above Spankeys run on a N/E aspect. This pit showed wind loading less than expected with the top layer being relatively soft. Again no propagation with poor structure and good stability.

A sled was recovered uphill of the 2 avalanche victims in the same area it was stuck. The sled was found with a probe line and is buried 3-4 feet deep. The avalanche crown can be seen in the upper slopes above them. Photo: GNFAC