Photos

This photo was taken from the trigger point looking uphill. The slope released 100 vertical feet above the party of three with the crown behind the biggest trees. Photo: GNFAC

Consistent snowfall and strong winds pushed many slopes past their breaking point in the mountains near Quake Lake. These slides were breaking 2-3 feet deep and propagating hundreds of feet wide. Photo GNFAC
 

A natural avalanche on a wind-loaded slope on the NW aspect of Woddy Ridge. Photo: B. Fredlund

Three skiers were caught in this slide in Beehive Basin. The slide was triggered as the skiers were ascending the slope. One skier suffered a leg injury and needed to be rescued. The slide occurred on a west facing slope around 8,700 ft. Photo M. Young

A skier near Bacon Rind in the southern Madison Range triggered this slide from the top of the slope. The slide failed on a layer of surface hoar. Photo M. Carey

Skiers near Hebgen Lake experienced large collapses resulting in obvious cracks in the snowpack. This large crack fromed when a cornice was dropped on the slope. Collapsing and cracking are obvious signs the snowpack is unstable. Photo E. Wolf 

The Big Sky Ski Patrol triggered many large avalanches over the past few days. These slides occurred on heavily wind loaded slopes facing south and southesat. The side were mostly running on small facets above an ice crust. Photo C. Babineau-Z 

This slide was remotely triggered from 30 feet away in Lightening Creek near Carrot Basin.  It ran on a layer of facets siting on an ice crust.  The facets are widespread throughout the southern Madison Range although they are unstable on only some slopes.  With more snowfall they will likely become reactive.  Photo: Andrew Hobman

We triggered this small soft slab avalanche from 30' away on an east facing slope. It was 1-1.5 feet deep, 75 feet wide and 100 feet vertical.  It broke on a layer of facets on an ice crust. Photo: GNFAC

This small natural avalanche released on a layer of facets buried 18" from the surface.  It likey ran this morning after the snowfall ended. Photo: GNFAC

Skiers remotely triggered an avalanche on steep "pillow lines" near the Soda Butte Campground as they approched these steep slopes from the treed ridge behind them. Photo: W. Miller

Winds yesterday (2/13) in Hyalite Canyon were blowing 35 mph gusting to 60 mph. One gust hit 87 mph. Many slopes were scoured while others have dense wind slabs. Photo: B. Vandenbos

This slide was remotely triggered Tuesday (2/11) along the route into Sheep Creek just north of Cooke City. Remotely triggered means it was triggered from the flats under these steep slopes and a serious sign of unstable conditions. The snowpack in this are is relatively thin and this avalanche broke near the groud. Photo: GNFAC

This slope collapsed with a large "whumph" as we postholed downhill.  It moved  3" but was not steep enough to slide; about 33 degrees steepess.  Approximately 75 feet away a small rollover avalanched with this collapse.  The soft slab broke on a layer of buried surface hoar. Photo: GNFAC
 

Karl Birkeland measures the 50cm slab sitting above the buried surface hoar layer. It propagated in 21 of 24 stability tests with ECTP12-14. Photo: GNFAC

This layer of surface hoar is buried 50cm deep on Lionhead.  It is breaking easily in stability tests and we were able to collapse a slope and remotely trigger a small avalanche on this layer. Photo: GNFAC

These slides were triggered by two skiers on Monday (2/10/14) on a south facing slope at 8,000 feet.  They broke about 2 feet deep, likely on the facets formed two weeks ago. Photo: L. Hinck

A layer of near surface facets was found 40 cm's below the surface in the Flanders drainage up Hyalite.Ths layer produced unstable results in some stability tests but not all. It is not a major problem at the moment, but could become more reactive if stressed by a new load. Photo GNFAC

These slides broke 1-2 feet deep on a thin layer of faceted snow formed in late January during 2 weeks of dry weather. So far this layer hasn't broken over wide areas and produced large avalanches. Photo: GNFAC

This slide was triggered today (2/9) by snowmobilers on Lionhead. It broke on weak, faceted snow (aka sugar snow) about 1 foot above the ground. It was just dumb luck that it did not break over a larger area. Nearby, the yellow circle shows the crown from a very large avalanche that occurred just over 2 weeks ago. The slope in the middle hasn't pulled out yet, but there's a good chance it would if you climbed it. Photo: GNFAC