Bridger Range

As we returned to Frazier Basin from below, we saw five natural avalanches on the southeast-facing wall of the basin. They entrained only the 1 to 2 inches of snow that had fallen during the day. However, they were notable in that they ran 500 to 700 vertical feet. They indicate that the new snow may not bond well to the old snow surface. A crust formed by the recent warm temperatures and sunny skies is the subsurface that snow is falling on. This will become a more significant concern as more snow falls this week. Photo: GNFAC
 

We skied into Frazier Basin, and down into Ainger Lake area. We dug our first snow pit on a north-facing slope below Thing One and Thing Two. The Snowpack was deep, and the upper meter consisted of layers of wind slabs on top of wind slabs (Ectx). We dug again on a northeast-facing slope below Frazier basin. Similarly, we found a deep snowpack with no notable weak layers in the upper 4 feet. We dug a third pit on a southeast-facing slope as we skinned out. The snowpack was much thinner (140cm), and we found weak depth hoar buried 3 1/2 to 4 feet deep with an unstable test result (ectp21). The instability was related to the snow depth rather than the aspect. Given that there was a large natural avalanche a few basins to the south a week ago, we remain concerned about avalanches breaking deep in the snowpack.

As we returned to Frazier Basin from below, we immediately saw five natural avalanches on the southeast-facing wall of the basin. These had occurred while we were skiing the terrain below. They entrained only the 1 to 2 inches of snow that had fallen during the day. However, they were notable in that they ran 500 to 700 vertical feet. They were likely initiated by warming from the proximal cliff faces. They indicate that the new snow may not bond well to the old snow surface. A crust formed by the recent warm temperatures and sunny skies is the subsurface that snow is falling on. This will become a more significant concern as more snow falls this week.
 

Dug two pits on Texas Meadow north of Bridger Bowl. Generally good stability. Main concern is recent snow which appeared well bonded in pits. Deeper weak layers were stubborn to non-reactive, but a few deeper layers exist enough to create a deep slab concern if there is more loading, or when things start to melt...

Recent avalanche activity along the range (from Bridger Peak to The Throne) was confined to loose snow avalanches involving the most recent storm snow. A few natural, and many skier triggered which were large and probably occurred a day or two ago after 8-11" of heavy snow fell. There was minimal recent wet snow activity. Slopes that face the sun had a 3 cm crust which started to get damp this afternoon, but cooled off before it became weak enough to create any wet snow hazard.

Shady slopes stayed dry, and there was evidence of near surface faceting on shady slopes, and a thin dry layer of facets formed above the crust on slopes facing the sun.

Small slide during active loading event on Wednesday. Not enough to bury anyone but ran pretty quickly through chute below. In bounds in at Bridger Bowl. No injuries. 
 

Happened at 11:15 am, snowed a few more inches, probably gonna be some more consequential slides in Bridger range today and tomorrow. 

From obs: "Noticed this large avalanche in unsupported terrain yesterday morning. I called it HS-N-R3-D3-U although it looks to have failed on facets at the ground. Frequent flyer but impressive. Debris was approx. the size of a football field and 8-10' deep, ran full extent of D3 track." A Newman

From obs: "Noticed this large avalanche in unsupported terrain yesterday morning. I called it HS-N-R3-D3-U although it looks to have failed on facets at the ground. Frequent flyer but impressive. Debris was approx. the size of a football field and 8-10' deep, ran full extent of D3 track." A Newman