Photos

From obs (3/29/20): "On our approach to Maid of the Mist, my partner and I watched several small point release avalanches on the east face of Palace Butte..." Photo: N. Salsburg

From obs (3/29/20): "This 44* slope failed 12” under the surface of the snow on a hard crust as we descended to help another stuck rider in a tree. Another layer exists 2” below the failed layer which persisted to follow me down the hill rupturing as fault lines as I continued rapidly down the hill after extracting the stuck rider. While the remaining slope only fractured without chasing me down the hill... "Photo: TJ Krob

Sunday (3/29/20) skiers near Fairy Lake saw this cornice collapse that ran for quite a ways in October bowl. Photo: T. Gittins

From obs. (3/29/20): "Significant wind started building mid morning, forming even bigger cornices and wind loading many slopes. Noticed this slide on an East/Northeast aspect at the back of the bowl above Maid of the Mist creek, possibly triggered by cornice fall but unknown. Happened between 9:45am and 11:30am today, as at 9:30am it was not there, and when we returned to the spot around 11:30am the slide was visible." Photo: CP

From email on 3/27/2020 : "natural slab avalanche I observed today near Cooke City.  An easterly aspect around 9,400'.  I'd estimate the crown to be 2-3' deep and about 100' wide.  Looks like it was triggered by a cornice fall (2-3 days ago?)."

Photo: B. Fredlund

Main Fork of Hyalite 3/27.

From obs: "This slide popped on a N aspect at 9000', ranging from 18-30 inches deep... it slid on a crust." Photo: N. Iltis

Today on the east side of Lionhead Ridge we found a layer of weak, near-surface facets buried under a foot and a half of new snow. This is definitely something to watch out for especially on wind-loaded slopes. Photos: GNFAC

Today we rode into the Taylor Fork and Lionhead areas to remove our weather stations for the season. Photo: GNFAC

Enormous cornices overhanging Lionhead Ridge. Photo: GNFAC

Significant cornice growth and wind transport on Bridger Ridge. Photo: T. Allen

From email: "Was up Dudley creek today. Northern madison. Saw 2 step down avalanches on ne aspect high elevation... One ... seemed cornice triggered within 12 hrs of our tour this morning (3/26). The 2nd avalanche is in the lower photo and was probably skier trigger intentional.... It looks like they triggered a fresh wind slab under ridge, maybe ski cut, which stepped down into some older layers"

Photo: L. Frye

From obs: "We toured up in the Throne area today. Moderate winds were blowing snow at mid elevations and ridgetops. We found dry boot top powder on East facing slopes, the snow skied upside down. We observed loose and slab avalanches on many aspects up high and at mid elevations, all looked like new snow avalanches that happened yesterday. I’ve attached a photo of an east facing slope near the Throne."  Photo: S. Jonas

From obs: "Wind Loaded slope. 2ft Crown. 100ft wide. firm, crusty bed surface. The avalanche was released by a ski cut." Photo: Anonymous

Two natural avalanche in Beehive Basin. The obvious avalanche was observed by skiers mid-day. There is another crown in the shadows of an avalanche that occurred earlier in the day.

Photo: J. Caton

From obs: "Later in the day we ran across what we assume to be a remotely triggered avalanche from another party in the area. There were two sets of tracks on the adjacent slope with cracks visible on the slope. The avalanche occurred on a 40* east aspect at 9250' and failed on the MFcr/FC dn 35cm. We looked at the crown profile, and the structure was very similar to what we found on souths. 35cm of F->4F PP/DF overlaying MFcr/FC. We did an ECT on the crown and it failed on isolation. Skiing out the trail with better light than in the morning, we saw a number of similar avalanches confined to east aspects on steep 40*+ rolls and presumably failing on the persistent grains above the crust." Photo: E. Coba

A skier triggered slide on a windloaded slope just north of Bridger Bowl. The skier lost their ski in the slide. Photo: R. Anderson

From obs: "An avalanche was triggered by a skier on the East facing wall of Beehive Basin. The slide broke on the crust layer from last week. The crown was roughly 100' wide."

Photo: C. Samuels

In the Bridger Range, avalanches released naturally on a density change in the new snow sometime Tuesday night (3/24). Photo: E. Knoff

In the Bridger Range, avalanches released naturally on a density change in the new snow sometime Tuesday night (3/24). Photo: E. Knoff

Snowfall throughout the afternoon fluctuated between S1 - S5 (during brief squalls). The winds started out moderate and from the west but calmed by the last lap ~5 pm. The new snow (from last night/this morning) was fairly well bonded to the sun/melt-freeze crust below, but the storm came in subtly upside down. Today’s snowfall (accumulating ~3” while skiing between 1-530) was light. Right along the ridgeline, we triggered 4 predictable small storm slabs 4~6” deep on the upside-down storm snow from last night/this morning, but surprisingly not on the old crust. They were each 5-10m wide x 5m long and only ran ~5m vertically. Photo: Z Miller