Poor stability in Cooke City

Poor stability in Cooke City

Date
Activity
Skiing
Snowmobiling

We rode up Daisy Pass road and dug below the road at 9,510' on a WSW aspect. Snowpack was 2.5feet deep (87cm). The recent snow was 1 foot =1.6" SWE (measured in field), sitting on a hard crust above 2mm facets which made up the bottom half of the snowpack. We got an ECTP11. We dug a second pit near Lulu Pass on a NE facing slope at 9,520', and found a very similar snowpack structure, without the crust below the recent snow, and also got ECTP11 as well as some ECTNs.

We saw a couple 8-10" deep natural avalanches on the steep slopes above Miller Creek that probably ran in the last 24-48hours. We had multiple collapses on the NE facing slope where we ski toured to dig our second pit.

Region
Cooke City
Location (from list)
Henderson Mountain
Observer Name
Alex Marienthal