Trip Planning for Northern Gallatin

as of 5:00 am
Today0″ | 10-20 W
Mar 17 0″ | 5-20 NE
Mar 16 0″ | 10-30 E
9982′     03/18 at 21:00
32.9℉
W - 11mph
Gusts 17 mph
8100′     03/18 at 20:00
30℉
52″ Depth
Primary Problem: Persistent Weak Layer
Bottom Line: Large avalanches breaking deep in the snowpack on persistent weak layers and wet, loose snow avalanches are possible in the mountains across the advisory area. Lower-angle avalanche terrain and slopes with clean runouts and without terrain traps are the best options if you choose to play the odds. Follow safe travel practices, including traveling one at a time while a partner remains in position for rescue. Get off any steep terrain before the surface snow gets wet in more than the upper few inches. This process will happen faster in lower elevations so ensure safe egress options.

Past 5 Days

Thu Mar 14

Considerable
Fri Mar 15

Considerable
Sat Mar 16

Considerable
Sun Mar 17

Considerable
Today

Moderate

Relevant Avalanche Activity

Northern Gallatin
Mt Blackmore
Large avalanche N face Blackmore
Incident details include images
Incident details contain video
Mt Blackmore
NC-R3-D3.5-O
Elevation: 9,800
Aspect: N
Coordinates: 45.4444, -111.0040
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Large avalanche North face Mt Blackmore. Appeared to be potentially triggered by cornice fall from above. Crown propagated across majority of the bowl and was quite large in places. 

From Jake Obs: "Cornice fall triggered a big one. Looks to be real fresh. last night or this morning    Broke across the whole bowl and up to 8 feet deep maybe more right in the middle. Broken trees in the debris, And ran out of sight."


More Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin
Alex Lowe Peak
Natural Avalanches nera Alex Lowe Peak
Incident details include images
Alex Lowe Peak
N
Coordinates: 45.4370, -110.9960
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Snowboarders in Hyalite on 03/09/2024 saw several avalanches in the upper South Cottonwood drainage. 

 


More Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin
Swan Creek
Natural Avalanches in Swan Creek
Incident details include images
Swan Creek
HS-N-R2-D2-O
Aspect: N
Coordinates: 45.3761, -111.0940
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0

Observed sometime between 03/06/2024-03/13/2024: 

"Just finished a weeklong ski from west Yellowstone to bear canyon, and thought I’d chime in that I didn’t observe anything that hasn’t been reported on already. I saw lots of deep slabs breaking near the ground, primarily on the north half of the compass. But sometimes not!.... It was interesting to see that despite the lack of snow, some avalanches were running almost full track. It seems like after a week of being on the snow I would see some sort of pattern, but I feel like I ended the trip with the same amount of confidence I entered it with, and didn’t feel comfortable exposing myself to hardly anything. 
I attached a couple photos of a slide I saw toward the head end of Swam Creek. The crown was 2-5’ deep and ~2000’ wide, and it stopped within 50’ of old growth timber. "


More Avalanche Details

Relevant Photos

Displaying 1 - 40
  • Skiers a few days ago saw several deep natural avalanches near the head of Swan Creek. These avalanches broke 2-5' deep, 2000' wide, and ran "full track". The exact date of when these avalanches happened is unknown but they likely happened over a week ago in the first few days of March. Photo: S. Reinsel

  • Skiers a few days ago saw several deep natural avalanches near the head of Swan Creek. These avalanches broke 2-5' deep, 2000' wide, and ran "full track". The exact date of when these avalanches happened is unknown but they likely happened over a week ago in the first few days of March. Photo: S. Reinsel

     

     

  • Skiers noted a large natural avalanche on the North face of Mt Blackmore that broke overnight. The crown was around 8 feet deep. Photo: E. Roman

  • Skiers noted a large natural avalanche on the North face of Mt Blackmore that broke overnight. The crown was around 8 feet deep. Photo: E. Roman

  • Skiers noted a large natural avalanche on the North face of Mt Blackmore that broke overnight. The crown was around 8 feet deep. Photo: E. Roman

  • One of several natural avalanches in the upper South Cottonwood drainage that skiers saw while in Hyalite. Photo: L. Gabrielson

  • One of several natural avalanches in the upper South Cottonwood drainage that skiers saw while in Hyalite. Photo: L. Gabrielson

  • One of several natural avalanches in the upper South Cottonwood drainage that skiers saw while in Hyalite. Photo: L. Gabrielson

     

  • This large avalanche was observed on Sunday, 03/03/2024 by riders in Portal Creek. Photo taken today, 03/07/2024. Photo: G. Edwards

     

  • Skiers from History Rock saw a few recent natural avalanches on Mt. Blackmore that likely happened during or near the end of a storm on 03/02-03/03. Photo: E. Webb

  • From obs: "Shot from the top of Flanders, ~1400 this afternoon, 3/3/2024. Big slide(s) on Arden and in Maid of the Mist. Looks like the skin track and ski track between the two slides got taken out. At first glance from across the way it looked like the skin track was crossing over the debris, but when zoomed in it looks like the debris overran the skin track and the ski track." Photo: M. Zia

  • From obs: "Shot from the top of Flanders, ~1400 this afternoon, 3/3/2024. Big slide(s) on Arden and in Maid of the Mist. Looks like the skin track and ski track between the two slides got taken out. At first glance from across the way it looked like the skin track was crossing over the debris, but when zoomed in it looks like the debris overran the skin track and the ski track." Photo: M. Zia

     

  • Skiers experienced widespread cracking and collapsing while touring in Hyalite. The largest of which shot 100' out in front of them. Photo: S. Lowe

  • Skiers on 03/02/2024 observed several natural avalanches that likely happened in the last 24 hours. Photo: Anonymous 

  • Skies on 03/02/2024 observed several natural avalanches that likely happened in the last 24 hours. Photo: Anonymous 

  • Photo from IG, slide occurred night of 3/1.

  • Observed on 03/01: Riders in Hyalite saw an avalanche on an east-facing slope near Maid of the Mist. This likely happened between 02/29/2024- 03/01/2024. Photo: Anonymous

  • Skiing some dog pow across Hyalite reservoir between 7200-7800’ on a NE pitch I got lots of whumphs and shooting cracks while braking trail. This was a shallower snowpack than most other areas, it was still easy to break into basil facets with skis on.

  • Skiing some dog pow across Hyalite reservoir between 7200-7800’ on a NE pitch I got lots of whumphs and shooting cracks while braking trail. This was a shallower snowpack than most other areas, it was still easy to break into basil facets with skis on.

  • From IG: This avalanche was from this morning (02/28). It was windy and the gully was likely wind-loaded. One video shows the debris and crown. The pin on the map (below) shows the location of the debris.

  • From obs: "Several small slabs pulled out above The Shimmy, left of Cleo's. Observed from across the valley while climbing the Dribbles. Did not observe them run, only saw the crowns. Unknown date of avalanches, but crowns were quite distinct from across the way." Photo: M. Zia

  • On 02/22/2024 we saw a natural avalanche in the Divide Cirque that probably happened late last week near 02/17/2024. Photo: GNFAC

  • On 02/22/2024 from the Divide Cirque we saw a natural avalanche near Overlook Mountain that probably happened late last week near 02/17/2024. Photo: GNFAC

  • Observed on 02/19/2024: From obs: "From the approach trail to Mummy II we saw two large crowns on the ridge associated with Mt. Bole. Not sure when they happened, but they looked pretty big!" Photo: M. Bjornsson

  • Observed on 02/19/2024: From obs: "From the approach trail to Mummy II we saw two large crowns on the ridge associated with Mt. Bole. Not sure when they happened, but they looked pretty big!" Photo: M. Bjornsson

  • Observed on 02/19/2024: From obs: "From the approach trail to Mummy II we saw two large crowns on the ridge associated with Mt. Bole. Not sure when they happened, but they looked pretty big!" Photo: M. Bjornsson

  • Climbers in Hyalite saw an avalanche that likely happened in the last 48 hours above Twin Falls on 02/19/2024. The trigger is unknown, 3' at the deepest point, and broke 100' wide. Photo: R. Parsons 

     

  • Climbers in Hyalite saw an avalanche that likely happened in the last 48 hours above Twin Falls on 02/19/2024. The trigger is unknown, 3' at the deepest point, and broke 100' wide. Photo: R. Parsons 

     

  • Climbers in Hyalite saw an avalanche that likely happened in the last 48 hours above Twin Falls on 02/19/2024. The trigger is unknown, 3' at the deepest point, and broke 100' wide. Photo: R. Parsons 

     

     

  • A skier on 02/18/2024 saw a large natural avalanche on the NE face south of Flanders that likely happened on 02/15/2024. Photo: Anonymous 

  • From obs 2/17/24: "Lots of natural activity up buck ridge. The one photoed looked like it popped off this morning. Most activity we saw seemed to be on northern facing aspects" Photo: M. Forbes

  • From facebook: "Rode up Portal creek today... We triggered 4 avalanches with the farthest one being 300 yards away. The one in the photo was the scariest one. We were playing below the windy pass hillclimb and the chute next to it let go. We had a sledder almost get caught in it, but thankfully everyone was ok. It's scary out there!"

  • Do you like to hike? Do you like to ski? Then the King & Queen of the Ridge is for you. Hike, ski and raise money for the Friends of the Avalanche Center in their 2nd biggest fundraiser of the year. Join the effort to promote and support avalanche safety and awareness! Fundraising prizes for top 5 individuals who raise over $500. No racing is necessary to compete for the fundraising prizes. Info to fundraise is HERE or donate here. Race participants for the [insert dates] event must register separately with Bridger Bowl here.

  • Climbers in Hyalite saw an avalanche near Solstice that happened on 01/21. This avalanche is 1' deep at the crown and with 18" of facets snow below. Photo: R. Meshew

  • Climbers in Hyalite saw an avalanche near Solstice that happened on 01/21. This avalanche is 1' deep at the crown and with 18" of facets snow below. Photo: R. Meshew

  • From obs: "The crown was just over 2ft deep at its max and 150ft+ wide. The were signs of recent wind loading as we approached the bowl prior to the slide." Photo. T. Hoefler

  • The debris of an avalanche that was triggered by skiers that was triggered 400 feet above them. The skiers were not on the path of the avalanche. Photo: T. Hoefler

  • Photo: T. Hoefler

  • Skiers triggered an avalanche on an east-facing slope at 9350ft.

    From obs: "The crown was just over 2ft deep at its max and 150ft+ wide. The were signs of recent wind loading as we approached the bowl prior to the slide. We did not observe any other avalanches while we were out." Photo: T. Hoefler

  • Skiers in the SE bowl of Flanders triggered an avalanche from the bottom of the slope. This happened on 01/20.

    From Obs: "as he turned into the bowl, a remote triggered avalanche ripped out above him. He was fast to reach a safe position in the trees by the time the avalanche finished its ride. The photo shows the 3 ski tracks, and the most left one is what remote triggered above." Photo: Anonymous 

Videos- Northern Gallatin

WebCams


Bozeman Pass, Looking SE

Snowpit Profiles- Northern Gallatin

 

Select a snowpit on the map to view the profile image

Weather Forecast Northern Gallatin

Extended Forecast for

14 Miles SE Gallatin Gateway MT

  • Tonight

    Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 30. West wind 7 to 9 mph.

    Mostly Clear

    Low: 30 °F

  • Tuesday

    Tuesday: Sunny, with a high near 45. West northwest wind 7 to 9 mph.

    Sunny

    High: 45 °F

  • Tuesday
    Night

    Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 29. West northwest wind 6 to 9 mph becoming southwest in the evening.

    Partly Cloudy

    Low: 29 °F

  • Wednesday

    Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 45. West wind 9 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

    Mostly Sunny

    High: 45 °F

  • Wednesday
    Night

    Wednesday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 31. West southwest wind 14 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.  New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.

    Chance Snow

    Low: 31 °F

  • Thursday

    Thursday: Snow likely.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Breezy, with a west wind 13 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph.  Chance of precipitation is 70%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible.

    Snow Likely
    and Breezy

    High: 37 °F

  • Thursday
    Night

    Thursday Night: A 50 percent chance of snow.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 26. Southwest wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.  New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

    Chance Snow

    Low: 26 °F

  • Friday

    Friday: Snow likely, mainly after noon.  Mostly cloudy, with a high near 36. Southwest wind 10 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 22 mph.

    Snow Likely

    High: 36 °F

  • Friday
    Night

    Friday Night: Snow likely.  Mostly cloudy, with a low around 24.

    Snow Likely

    Low: 24 °F

The Last Word

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center, the Avalanche Research Program at Simon Fraser University and the U.S. National Science Foundation National Center for Atmospheric Research are conducting research to examine how backcountry recreationists, including skiers, mountain snowmobilers, snowshoers and ice climbers, interpret avalanche forecast information. They aim to better understand how useful different kinds of avalanche forecast information are for trip planning. To participate, take the Colorado Avalanche Information Center survey.

03 / 17 / 24  <<  
 
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