Natural avy on SE aspect 8000 ft 35 to 40 degrees broke on new snow interface today. YNP next to silver falls. Also several slides in gully below falls. Photo: D. Carroll
Natural avy on SE aspect 8000 ft 35 to 40 degrees. Broke on new snow interface today. YNP next to Silver Falls. Also several slides in gully below falls.
Made it out past round lake around 11am this morning - dug multiple hand pits above 9400' to gauge new snow depth - 40-50 cm new snow from this storm, very light, over the hood riding! Minimal wind below alpine, upper 20cm new snow collapsed easily in hand pits, very little cohesion in the new snow.
Observed several smaller avalanches, all in new snow, undetermined whether natural or ridder triggered, attached photo of the only slide I could get an alright photo of, vis was limited.
A natural avalanche near round lake, Cooke City. Photo: S. Reagan
A skier triggered a slide about 20-30 yards wide and 2-4ft thick.
On January 28 we rode along Buck Ridge... Visibility wasn’t great, but we saw most of the avalanche terrain in the Yellowmules. Saw one avalanche along the 2nd Yellowmule headwall that broke 100-150 ft wide just under the new snow (maybe 1-2 ft deep, it was hard to tell)....
ECTP 3. New snow slab. No other propagation.
Made it out past round lake around 11am this morning - dug multiple hand pits above 9400' to gauge new snow depth - 40-50 cm new snow from this storm, very light, over the hood riding! Minimal wind below alpine, upper 20cm new snow collapsed easily in hand pits, very little cohesion in the new snow.
Observed several smaller avalanches, all in new snow, undetermined whether natural or ridder triggered, attached photo of the only slide I could get an alright photo of, vis was limited.
A skier triggered an avalanche about 20-30 yards wide and 2-4ft thick.
We went back to Buck Ridge to see how the big load of new snow was reacting. Rode through 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Yellowmule. Measured 13” of new snow with 0.6” SWE in 1st Yellowmule at 10 am. This brought the two day snow total to approximately 20”. Snowed all day with varying intensity and there were strong west winds along the ridge.
Visibility wasn’t great, but we saw most of the avalanche terrain in the Yellowmules. Saw one avalanche along the 2nd Yellowmule headwall that broke 100-150 ft wide just under the new snow (maybe 1-2 ft deep, it was hard to tell). Also saw a very small snowmobile triggered avalanche on a roadcut on the way out (6-12 inches deep, ~20 ft wide) that broke on facets in the thin snowpack. Rode many test slopes and got only very minor cracking. The new snow just wasn’t slabby even in the many places where it was wind affected.
With so much new snow (and having issued an avalanche warning), it was an easy decision to avoid all avalanche terrain today. Even after it stops snowing (likely sometime tonight) conditions will remain unstable and avalanches will be easily triggered for several days. The buried surface hoar layers will take longer to stabilize than new snow instabilities would by themselves.
