This natural avalanche of wind blown snow narrowly missed hitting two skiers.
Photo: Anonymous
Toured into divide basin on Friday. Looking at the north face of hyalite peak we saw a slide that went to the ground, and was about 150 feet wide. It possible this slide propagated further, but severe wind loading was actively occurring and it was hard to tell if the crown had been filled back in. We dug a pit at 9300 feet on a SÉ aspect and found a 80-100 cm HS and right side up snow pack with minor faceting below a crust 30 cm from the bottom.
My partner and I were skinning up a west-facing slope in Beehive Basin when we stopped out of the wind at a large rock outcrop.
Shortly after stopping to re-assess, a small, wind-deposited, pocket of snow popped off the rock face above us triggering a soft-slab slide which gained momentum and stepped down through a rocky choke, fanning out in the open face below the rocks, before coming to a stop directly at our skis.
We witnessed no additional natural avalanches that day or found any significant instabilities in the snowpack on adjacent slopes. We can only attribute our near-miss to luck, if the avalanche had occured five minutes before we stopped (while skinning across the slope), or five minutes after (while continuing upslope to our desired objective), our day might have ended quite differently.
Shallow reactive wind slabs up above Alpine lift at about 10:30 AM
My partner and I were skinning up a west-facing slope in Beehive Basin when we stopped out of the wind at a large rock outcrop.
Shortly after stopping to re-assess, a small, wind-deposited, pocket of snow popped off the rock face above us triggering a soft-slab slide which gained momentum and stepped down through a rocky choke, fanning out in the open face below the rocks, before coming to a stop directly at our skis.
We witnessed no additional natural avalanches that day or found any significant instabilities in the snowpack on adjacent slopes. We can only attribute our near-miss to luck, if the avalanche had occured five minutes before we stopped (while skinning across the slope), or five minutes after (while continuing upslope to our desired objective), our day might have ended quite differently.
Photo: @M. Stem
My partner and I were skinning up a west-facing slope in Beehive Basin when we stopped out of the wind at a large rock outcrop.
Shortly after stopping to re-assess, a small, wind-deposited, pocket of snow popped off the rock face above us triggering a soft-slab slide which gained momentum and stepped down through a rocky choke, fanning out in the open face below the rocks, before coming to a stop directly at our skis.
We witnessed no additional natural avalanches that day or found any significant instabilities in the snowpack on adjacent slopes. We can only attribute our near-miss to luck, if the avalanche had occured five minutes before we stopped (while skinning across the slope), or five minutes after (while continuing upslope to our desired objective), our day might have ended quite differently.
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Over the past few days, strong winds have built fresh wind slabs that are avalanching. On Thursday, a number of small natural and human triggered slides were seen near ridgelines in Beehive Basin and along the Bridger ridge (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/26867"><span><span><span><strong><span…;). Yesterday, separate groups triggered two slides mid-slope at Bridger Bowl, one breaking up to a foot deep and the other propagating widely (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/26866"><span><span><span><strong><span…;, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/22/wind-slab-under-bridger-lift"><sp…;). As Dave addressed in his video earlier this week (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YiP244CEn4&list=PLXu5151nmAvTi1DBS…;), Bridger Bowl currently has a backcountry snowpack and requires the same level of snowpack assessment as any other piece of avalanche terrain. Recent avalanches are the clearest sign of unstable snow. Heed their warning and watch for fresh drifts and steer clear of them today. If you see snow cracking under your feet, avoid steep terrain. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>There are still many exposed hazards that would amplify the consequences of a small slide. If you’re planning on riding in steep terrain and not seeing other signs of instability, get out your shovel and quickly test the snow. The snowpack is shallow enough it’ll only take a few minutes and it is a super valuable double check to make sure you aren’t missing something.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>We are grateful for the all the observations that our community is sending in this season. You can read these on the new </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/snow-observations-list"><span><span><span><… Observations Page</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><strong><span><span> </span></span></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>and contribute to our understanding of this season’s snowpack by </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_obs"><span><span><span><stron… your observations</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Doug will update this information tomorrow. If you get out, please share avalanche, snowpack or weather observations via our </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_obs"><span><span><span><stron…;, email (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com"><span><span><span><strong><span><u><span>…;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs). </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>A substantial snowpack is growing near Island Park with a structure that makes us hopeful for the season to come (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yw-PrBh6FU&list=PLXu5151nmAvTi1DBS… Peak video</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). Over the past few days, strong winds have built fresh wind slabs. Watch for fresh drifts and steer clear of them today. If you see snow cracking under your feet, avoid steep terrain. If you’re planning on riding in steep terrain and not seeing other signs of instability, get out your shovel and quickly test the snow. The snowpack is shallow enough it’ll only take a few minutes and it is a super valuable double check to make sure you aren’t missing something.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Our education calendar is full of awareness lectures and field courses. Check it out: Events and Education Calendar.
submitted to us via IG: "triggered this large wind slab below Bridger Lift this morning [11/18]. It propagated quite a ways."
