22-23

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Yesterday, skiers and riders triggered slides breaking 1-2 ft deep on wind loaded slopes near Big Sky and Cooke CIty (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/27980"><span><span><span><strong><span… Mtn details</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/27978"><span><span><span><strong><span… Abundance details</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/27986"><span><span><span><strong><span… Mtn details</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). A skier was buried up to their waist in the slide on Fisher Mountain. Winds picked up overnight, building fresh new drifts that could break in similar avalanches today.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>In general, as we get further out from last weekend’s big storm, it is getting harder to trigger a slide. But a continuing stream of human triggered avalanches demonstrates that it is clearly still possible (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/snow-observations-list"><span><span><span><… log</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). Freshly wind drifted slopes are the most likely place to trigger an avalanche. Avalanches could break beneath the new and drifted snow or deeper on weak layers buried throughout the snowpack. As Alex reminded us in his video yesterday, these buried weak layers mean that the snowpack will stabilize slowly once loading stops (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ9aWLM7J2A"><span><span><span><strong>…;). While on non-windloaded slopes these layers haven’t been loaded for close to a week, windloaded slopes have continued to be stressed and haven’t had much of a chance to stabilize yet. As the likelihood of triggering a slide slowly goes down, the potential size and destructive power is not decreasing.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>With the recent avalanches on steep wind-drifted slopes, choosing to keep it simple and entirely avoiding those slopes today wouldn’t be unreasonable. Look and feel for signs of wind effect in the surface snow. Cracks shooting out in front of your skis or sled are a clear red flag that you’ve found an unstable drift and should back off steep slopes. If you don’t see any obvious signs of instability, take a few minutes to dig and test the snowpack as a final double check before riding steep slopes.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The avalanche danger is MODERATE today across the advisory area.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>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><span>…; </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><u><span><span>website</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, email (</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><span>mtavalanche@gmail.com</span></span></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs). </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

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<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Winds picked up overnight, building fresh new drifts that could avalanche today. Avalanches could break beneath the new and drifted snow or deeper on weak layers buried throughout the snowpack. With the recent avalanches on steep wind-drifted slopes, choosing to keep it simple and entirely avoiding those slopes today wouldn’t be unreasonable. Take a few minutes to dig and test the snowpack as a final double check before riding steep slopes. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>