Photos

Displaying page 26 of photos 501 - 520 of 525
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-19

Feathery crystals of surface hoar are seen on Mt. Blackmore in Hyalite. These crystals can be notorious weak layers once buried, but only time will tell if they survive until the next snowstorm. Photo: Z. Tondre

Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-18
Cooke City, 2018-11-14

A snowmobiler triggered this small wind slab near Lulu pass outside of Cooke City. Wind loaded slopes are primary avalanche concern across the advisory area. Photo: J. Temple 

Link to Avalanche Details
Bridger Range, 2018-11-13

Strong winds in the Bridger Range formed dense slabs on leeward slopes. Yesterday, A skier north of Bridger Bowl triggered multiple wind slabs near the top of Wolverine Bowl. The skier turned around and chose a safer objective. Photo: S. Whitefields 

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-12

Climbers triggered this very small wind slab on the way to a climb up Flanders in Hyalite (11/11). A tiny slide to a skier can be bad news for a climber since losing one's balance or getting pushed off a cliff can be deadly. From an email (edited):

Hyalite Snow Conditions:...we dug two hasty pits on east facing slopes in Flanders.... 8200'- isolated opening in trees in an area on rocks, shallower snow (~50cm). CT12 at the ground, again just tapping on the back of other hand, so not super legit, but did raise eyebrows.   8450'- Opening below cliff bands on exposed traverse. Deeper snow (~80-90cm). No concerns other than storm snow and snow coming off of cliff bands. Classic Hyalite shifty winds. We released a small (10-15cm) storm slab on traverse into the climb .   Weather: It was snowing and blowing all day.

Photo: S. Magro

Link to Avalanche Details
Bridger Range, 2018-11-11

From an email:

"By and large right side up snowpack. Some small facets below the 11/1 ice crust at the ground, but well bonded snowpack overall. Pit observations consistent with hand pits dug throughout the day touring north out of Bridger Bowl." Photo: M. Zia

Bridger Range, 2018-11-10

From an email: "ECTP 5 at the top of a chute on the south face of the Texas Meadows knob. Propagated on a layer 15cm from the top of the snowpack." Photo: J. Zimmerer

Northern Madison, 2018-11-10

From Instagram:

"Careful out there this year! While we are lucky enough to have a mostly stable snowpack here in Southwest Montana, we did just find this little wind slab well below the ridge line in Middle Basin. Slowboarder was fine" @chartierk

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Madison, 2018-11-10

A skier found 80 cm of stable snow on an east facing slope at 9200' in Beehive Basin. Winds created these newborn cornices along the ridge. Photo: T. Allen

Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-10

From e-mail: "Was descending off of Zach Attack tonight and set off a small slab in the gully on the decent. This was about 100 meters below the start of pitch 1. Constant whipping winds and lots of new deposited snow likely caused the slab to form. Climber caused. Didn’t carry me as it was small. Would be wary of the mummy cooler gullies abover scepter as well."

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-10

From e-mail: "Was descending off of Zach Attack tonight and set off a small lab in the gully on the decent. This was about 100 meters below the start of pitch 1. Constant whipping winds and lots of new deposited snow likely caused the slab to form. Climber caused. Didn’t carry me as it was small. Would be wary of the mummy cooler gullies abover scepter as well."

Link to Avalanche Details
Cooke City, 2018-11-09

From a tour up Miller Creek: "Good stability and structure found overall.  No collapsing nor cracking experienced, minor wind effect, and only some minor point release avalanche activity noted on the east aspect of Crown Butte." Photo: B. Fredlund

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-09
From Zack Keskinen:   Noted multiple small crowns (15-20cms) on NE steep rocky terrain. Pit seemed reasonably consistent with a couple hand pits across the day in the "above treeline" zone. Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-09
From Zack Keskinen:   Mt Blackmore 11/07 HN24 - 20cm S1 - 8/8 - W (Light)   Noted multiple small crowns (15-20cms) on NE steep rocky terrain.Pit seemed reasonably consistent with a couple hand pits across the day in the "above treeline" zone. Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-09
 From Zack Keskinen:   Mt Blackmore 11/07 HN24 - 20cm S1 - 8/8 - W (Light)   Noted multiple small crowns (15-20cms) on NE steep rocky terrain.Pit seemed reasonably consistent with a couple hand pits across the day in the "above treeline" zone. Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-08

Natural wind slab that broke after 3-4 feet of new snow over 6 days. Photo: B. VandenBos

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-07

Natural avalanche activity was widespread in Hyalite on Tuesday 11/6. Obs from e-mail: "The newest snow (about 18", I'd guess past 48hrs) is touchy soft slab. The top 8 inches also exhibit a storm slab-like quality.  There appears to be a very slight density change between the two.  Top 8" fracture and propagate cracks readily on gentle terrain, whereas in steeper terrain, the deeper slab (again, about 18" down) was propagating as I was skinning up the headwall in the steep creek drainages and steeper features nearby. Lots of natural activity on steeper terrain, but vis was limited. Photo: G. Antonioli

Link to Avalanche Details
Northern Gallatin, 2018-11-07

Natural avalanche activity was widespread in Hyalite on Tuesday 11/6. Obs from e-mail: "The newest snow (about 18", I'd guess past 48hrs) is touchy soft slab. The top 8 inches also exhibit a storm slab-like quality.  There appears to be a very slight density change between the two.  Top 8" fracture and propagate cracks readily on gentle terrain, whereas in steeper terrain, the deeper slab (again, about 18" down) was propagating as I was skinning up the headwall in the steep creek drainages and steeper features nearby. Lots of natural activity on steeper terrain, but vis was limited. Photo: G. Antonioli

Link to Avalanche Details
Bridger Range, 2018-11-06

The Bridgers got 30-40” of new snow in the past week. It came in warm and dense, and it is bonding well to the old snow. Natural Avalanches broke 6-8” deep in the new snow today. This instability will heal in a day or two. Wind loaded slopes, where new snow is drifted into fresh thick slabs, will be the most likely place to trigger avalanches the next few days. Photo: GNFAC

Bridger Range, 2018-11-02

From the MSU Backcountry Club Instagram page:

Warning! This is a current, fresh, crown in the northern Bridgers! Every aspect had a visible crown and avi debris! This crown was 56cm at it deepest and over 8 meters long. ECTP21@53 and CT24@54 on the overlying slab. Photo: @msubackcountryclub More Details.