"Observed two dry-loose slides and one slab avalanche on the NE-facing slope of Peak 10,024 in the Shower Creek basin on Sunday, 2/28 - all were presumably naturally triggered." Photo: K. Busby
Regional Conditions for Northern Gallatin
Past 5 Days

Moderate

Considerable

Considerable

Moderate

Moderate
Avalanche Activity- Northern Gallatin


SS-ASu-R2-D1.5-O
Aspect: NE
Coordinates: 45.1912, -111.4430
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
https://www.instagram.com/p/CL4xIk5n8PZ/
Sled Skiing in Third Yellow mule... after an air onto the slope the impact from landing resulted in a fracture and failure to / near the ground... in addition, a remote trigger occurred on adjacent slope... 200-300 ft to the skiers right. No body was caught in either slide. Skier that initiated failure was moving at high speed and was beyond slide path before majority of snow movement began. 2 pits where dug prior to riding terrain. One on adjacent slope, we went through to ECT 30 and continued to hammer on the column through 40 wacks of double fist, full force before failure occurred 30 cm above ground. Second pit was dug on slope where slide was initiated... same results, very hard to get failure to occur. Snowpack depth varied from 125 - 180 cm in the area... our pits were dug in depths of around 125 cm and 170 cm respectively.
More Avalanche Details

Coordinates: 45.3899, -110.9770
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
These avalanches likely broke around 2/24/21 with other avalanche activity. One was above Hyalite Lake the others were, "Observed two dry-loose slides and one slab avalanche on the NE-facing slope of Peak 10,024 in the Shower Creek basin on Sunday (2/28/21) - all were presumably naturally triggered."
More Avalanche Details

HS-N
Aspect: E
Coordinates: 45.4382, -110.9900
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
Ice climbers across Hyalite Canyon near G2 saw a wide and deep crown across the east face of Elephant Mountain.
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Photos- Northern Gallatin
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"Observed an old crown line and covered avy debris on a NW-facing slope looking SE from Hyalite Lake." Likely occurred around 2/24/21. Photo: K. Busby
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Wet loose avalanches released in the warm sunshine on Tuesday, March 2nd. We expect many more in the coming days. Photo: S. Jonas
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Sled Skiing in Third Yellow mule... after an air onto the slope the impact from landing resulted in a fracture and failure to / near the ground... in addition, a remote trigger occurred on adjacent slope... 200-300 ft to the skiers right. No body was caught in either slide. Skier that initiated failure was moving at high speed and was beyond slide path before majority of snow movement began. Photo: W. Miller
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Sled Skiing in Third Yellow mule... after an air onto the slope the impact from landing resulted in a fracture and failure to / near the ground... in addition, a remote trigger occurred on adjacent slope... 200-300 ft to the skiers right. No body was caught in either slide. Skier that initiated failure was moving at high speed and was beyond slide path before majority of snow movement began. Photo: W. Miller
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Sled Skiing in Third Yellow mule... after an air onto the slope the impact from landing resulted in a fracture and failure to / near the ground... in addition, a remote trigger occurred on adjacent slope... 200-300 ft to the skiers right. No body was caught in either slide. Photo: W. Miller
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This avalanche was triggered on Sunday, 2/28, when a skier released another slide 2-300 feet away. It broke at the same time. No one was caught. This was in the Third Yellow Mule on Buck Ridge. Photo: W. Miller
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Photo: C. Dokken
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"Saw this crown the morning of 2/28 from G1 while climbing." Reported to GNFAC (earlier in the week). Probably slid last week during other large slides nearby. Photo: V. Beineke
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"This was observed from the genesis area in hyalite. It was on the north east facing Bowl off elephant mountain about 800ft above the un named wall." Photo: B. Durrum
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There was 6' of snow off the ridge in the Bridger Range on an east facing slope. The top 2 feet were recent wind drifting that broke clean in our stability test which indicated unstable conditions (ECTP18). We expect similar conditions and instability with wind-loaded slops throughout our forecast area. Photo: GNFAC
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In the last 24 hours (2/28) 12" of low density powder and 40-50 mph west wind made it easy to trigger wind-drifted snow. Alex kicked these drifts which cracked and moved. We expect similar conditions and instability with wind-loaded slops throughout our forecast area. Photo: GNFAC
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On Mt Ellis (2/27/21) the snowpack has 20-40cm of depth hoar and facets at the bottom. Stability tests took a lot of force to collapse this layer, but it propagated (broke across the whole column) every time once initiated. This is a poor snowpack structure that makes large avalanche possible to trigger if you hit the wrong spot on a slope. Photo: GNFAC
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The Friends of the Avalanche Center, in partnership with the City of Bozeman, put in a Beacon Park at Beall Park. It is located on the north side of the Beall building between N. Bozeman Ave. and the ice rink. Stop by with your avalanche transceiver and do a few practice rescue drills. Your partner will thank you. Photo: S. Regan
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From Obs: "This slide on the ridge extends north from Blackmore above Blackmore lake. The slide was on a north-facing slope around 9,100'. The crown looked multiple feet deep and either meandered, partially hidden from view, by another ridge or a substantial second avalanche a hundred feet away."
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We saw this crown on 2/20/21. It likely broke 2/19 or 2/18. Photo: GNFAC
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We saw this crown on 2/20/21. It likely broke 2/19 or 2/18. Photo: GNFAC
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"Here’s one more photo of some of the lower crown of that slide up Flanders. It was deep down lower!" Photo: S. Reinsel
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From obs [2/20/21]: "We observed a large natural slide on Flanders Mountain that likely occurred on Thursday (2/18/21). The crown ranged from 2-5’, but it’s hard to gauge how wide it was, because it covered a lot of elevations. I think there is considerable overlap with the large slide that ran there earlier this season. We did not observe any other slides, collapsing, or cracking, but the wind did pick up in the early afternoon." Photo: S. Reinsel
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From obs [2/20/21]: "We observed a large natural slide on Flanders Mountain that likely occurred on Thursday (2/18/21). The crown ranged from 2-5’, but it’s hard to gauge how wide it was, because it covered a lot of elevations. I think there is considerable overlap with the large slide that ran there earlier this season. We did not observe any other slides, collapsing, or cracking, but the wind did pick up in the early afternoon." Photo: S. Reinsel
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From email: "I toured into Blackmore [2/19/21] and observed an old snow avalanche at 9600' on the east face of Mt Blackmore. I was there the day before and didn't see any evidence of avalanche activity; strong overnight winds with ample snow available for transport appeared to be enough to tip the scales." Photo: T. Guarino
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From email: "I toured into Blackmore [2/19/21] and observed an old snow avalanche at 9600' on the east face of Mt Blackmore." Photo: T. Guarino
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From email: "I toured into Blackmore [2/19/21] and observed an old snow avalanche at 9600' on the east face of Mt Blackmore. I was there the day before and didn't see any evidence of avalanche activity; strong overnight winds with ample snow available for transport appeared to be enough to tip the scales." Photo: T. Guarino
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From email: "I toured into Blackmore [2/19/21] and observed an old snow avalanche at 9600' on the east face of Mt Blackmore. I was there the day before and didn't see any evidence of avalanche activity; strong overnight winds with ample snow available for transport appeared to be enough to tip the scales." Photo: T. Guarino
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From e-mail: "...a photo of what appeared to be a natural D2 underneath the Maid today [2/19/21]." Photo: H. Coppolillo
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From obs: "The southwest corner of the cirque slid on the storm slab and broke 1200-1500’ wide, an east aspect had a crown that exceeded 6’ in places, and the south face of Divide Peak broke 2-6’ deep and ran full track. I observed no collapsing or cracking, but the signs of instability were still pretty clear." Photo: S Reinsel
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From obs: "The southwest corner of the cirque slid on the storm slab and broke 1200-1500’ wide, an east aspect had a crown that exceeded 6’ in places, and the south side of Divide broke 2-6’ deep and ran full track. I observed no collapsing or cracking, but the signs of instability were still pretty clear." Photo: S Reinsel
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From obs: "The southwest corner of the cirque slid on the storm slab and broke 1200-1500’ wide, an east aspect had a crown that exceeded 6’ in places, and the south side of Divide broke 2-6’ deep and ran full track. I observed no collapsing or cracking, but the signs of instability were still pretty clear." Photo: S Reinsel
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On Thursday, Feb 11, snowmobilers remotely triggered two large avalanche in the Portal Creek area.
From obs: "Broke on lookers right crown first then triggered second slide to lookers left (rocks everywhere). Broke on depth hoar on both slides north facing aspects. Nobody was caught."
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On Thursday, Feb 11, snowmobilers remotely triggered two large avalanche in the Portal Creek area.
From obs: "Broke on lookers right crown first then triggered second slide to lookers left (rocks everywhere). Broke on depth hoar on both slides north facing aspects. Nobody was caught."
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On Thursday, Feb 11, snowmobilers remotely triggered two large avalanche in the Portal Creek area.
From obs: "Broke on lookers right crown first then triggered second slide to lookers left (rocks everywhere). Broke on depth hoar on both slides north facing aspects. Nobody was caught."
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From Obs: "Up/down the SE Ridge of Blackmore today. No cracking/collapsing observed. One large avalanche observed, on the path adjacent to the N Couloir on Alex Lowe. More or less went full path, I would estimate 2m max crown depth. HS-N-R4/D2.5-O. Observed several size 1 slabs that failed within new snow during the day on N aspects." Photo: S. Hennessey
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A natural avalanche that failed on Cedar Mountain during the tail end of the storm. Photo: GNFAC
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This natural avalanche broke under the new snow on a north facing hill at 8,500'. Photo: GNFAC
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This avalanche follows the treed ridgeline. It broke hundreds of feet wide, likely under the new snow. SE aspect, 8,800'. Photo: GNFAC
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This natural avalanche broke under the 3' of new snow that fell in the last week. NE aspect, 9,200'. Photo: GNFAC
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On several steep slopes we saw widespread cracking that occurred as new snow loaded the weak snowpack. Photo: GNFAC
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On 2/7/21 skiers in Beehive reported: "Numerous large collapses, ECTP in several pits on mid-pack facets, and triggered a test slope remotely from flat terrain. It broke in the old snow, but towards to top, maybe 10cm below the interface with the last week’s snow. Propagated over 50m, crown depth 60-100 cm. Would be solid size 2 if the slope wasn’t 20m tall." Photo: Sam H.
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From obs 2/6/21: "Natural slide below Maid of the Mist (unless someone was up climbing Maid No More...). E/NE aspect, roughly 8000' elevation. Looked to have run last night or early this morning. Poor resolution iphone photo, but gets the job done. Photo taken from the base of the Dribbles." Photo: M. Zia
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From obs: "Skied up into Divide Basin today... Observed 2 natural avalanches on the N face of the cirque, one quite large.... Shortly after digging the pit, on the same slope 30’ above it we triggered a slab that cracked but did not move..." Photo: J. Dalimata
Videos- Northern Gallatin
Snowpit Profiles- Northern Gallatin
Weather Stations- Northern Gallatin
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Bozeman Pass, Looking SE
Weather Forecast Northern Gallatin
14 Miles SE Gallatin Gateway MT
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This
AfternoonSunny
High: 40 °F
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Tonight
Increasing
CloudsLow: 23 °F
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Thursday
Mostly Sunny
High: 40 °F
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Thursday
NightMostly Clear
Low: 24 °F
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Friday
Mostly Sunny
High: 41 °F
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Friday
NightPartly Cloudy
Low: 28 °F
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Saturday
Slight Chance
SnowHigh: 42 °F
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Saturday
NightChance Snow
then Mostly
CloudyLow: 23 °F
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Sunday
Mostly Sunny
High: 36 °F
The Last Word
The video recording of Dave’s recent talk on “Rethinking Avalanche Terrain from a Strategic Perspective” is now available. It’s worth your time to watch it. There is a little something for everyone.