23-24
Weak snow in Tepee creek
Dug into the hillside right before going up the creek. Snow pack was 75 cm deep consisting of three layers. Bottom 35cm is obviously faceted, grain size is around 2mm. Very thin ice crust at around 35cm. Upper 35 cm of snow is brand new snow from this current storm, precipitation particles, low density, with minor wind effect. Performed a quick Compression Test and the ice crust layer failed on the second tap. Sudden collapse, clean sheer. Snowmobiled a small test slope next to pit and got no shooting cracks or whoompfs.
Natural Avalanches in Hyalite
Upon descending climbers saw two recent natural avalanches in the Dribbles Gully. These avalanches were failing within the new snow.
From obs:
"On descent this new snow was touchy, and we observed 2 natural avalanches, max depth 15 cm, on the small end of size 1, F hardness, running less than 30-50m exclusively in new snow. (SS-N-R1D1-N)"
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Sat Dec 9, 2023
From obs:
"On descent this new snow was touchy, and we observed 2 natural avalanches, max depth 15 cm, on the small end of size 1, F hardness, running less than 30-50m exclusively in new snow. (SS-N-R1D1-N)"
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Sat Dec 9, 2023
From obs:
"On descent this new snow was touchy, and we observed 2 natural avalanches, max depth 15 cm, on the small end of size 1, F hardness, running less than 30-50m exclusively in new snow. (SS-N-R1D1-N)"
S. Cooke City
From email:
"South of Cooke City today. Good conditions on low-angle open meadows. Fun problem-solving in the trees!
MC/PC/PS/C, seasonal temp (20s), calm.
No collapses or shooting cracks. Corners broke on steeper kick turns. I had a good view of lower (N) Woody Ridge and did not observe any Avalanche activity. I don't trust this shallow snowpack, but really fun low-angle meadow skipping.
HS 74cm; ECTN14 on new-snow M/F interface, ECTP21 on old-snow depth hoar interface."
Beehive- Poor structure and results to match.
Ectp 12 on SW slope around 8800' on new snow/old snow interface. ECTP 9 on SE slope around 9200' on new snow/old snow interface. Shooting cracks on ENE slope around 9000'.