Bridger Range

Toured the ramp this morning. We found a lot of snow covering the skin track from yesterday. Little to no wind affect near the ridge, however we did find the occasional deep, slightly stiff drift on more northerly/easterly aspects. While skiing a se facing slope, we found cracking and some cohesion in the new snow. This was mostly on very steep and rocky terrain features. The most notable of these was about 20’ wide, the bottom part of the new slab only moved about 6” before stopping, while the upper foot of the slab ran the full face. Most steep chutes we skinned near had a debris pile at the bottom (running full path). 

Level one avalanche class dug multiple pits. ECTN x3 45-60cm down and one ECTP #16 on the same layer below recent storms 50cm down. Height of snow ranges from 155-200cm around Bradley meadows.

Howdy gents!  Some pals and I skied the the Throne today.   4-8" of low-med density snow, mostly unaffected by wind.  South wind was blowing on and off at 5-15mph throughout the day across the ESE face, and swirling N wind down in the runout below Naya Nuki.  Not much for wind transport and we felt good skiing the steep N facing trees and the open snowfield on the NE face.  No cohesion noted and storm snow seemed to be bonding well to the underlying varied surface.  We did avoid the NE Couloir off the throne as the top appeared to be slabbing up with an isolated S windload.  No obvious signs of instability otherwise and fantastic skiing.  That said, if the wind starts to ramp up, all bets are off the table in my mind.  Washboards on the road in were f@ckin' brutal, but the parking lot was easy/ semi plowed.

cheers, Turnage

(406) 580-3636

We snowmobiled and skiied around the northern bridgers yesterday. Found lots of wind effect. Most faces had been wind scoured, some protected south facing slopes were wind loaded. Noted a few small natural slides, one other group reported to us that they popped a wind slab on a south facing slope. We bailed on our bigger objectives and found some decent snow in a sheltered south facing chute, we did not experience any instability on this but I'm sure on other slopes we would have seen wind slabs. A thicker wind crust was developing in most areas. Snow pack seemed really solid and deep, except near cliffs and hidden rock piles, were we found facets to the ground.

On a cold day we rode to Frazier Basin and quickly answered the question, “Are wind slab avalanches still possible or have they stabilized?” We saw a natural avalanche (R2, D1.5) that released on a steep headwall just to the south (I believe I’ve heard this referred to as October Bowl). Photo: GNFAC

On a cold day we rode to Frazier Basin and quickly answered the question, “Are wind slab avalanches still possible or have they stabilized?” We saw a natural avalanche (R2, D1.5) that released on a steep headwall just to the south (I believe I’ve heard this referred to as October Bowl). 
 

Wind has affected most of the snow above forested terrain in some fashion. While most soft snow has already been redistributed, some transport continued. We looked at skiing Thing Two but the wind slab problem and poor skiing quality deterred us. I did dig a pit with an ECTP11 breaking 5” down below the slab. Surfaces had hardened and I suspect terrain would have to be pretty steep for an avalanche to release (this type of steep terrain is abundant in Frazier). 
 

We departed Frazier area without skiing and went to look at lower elevation terrain above the Carroll Creek Road. The wind had gotten to the snow here as well but no signs of instability and an ECTN15 18” deep. Triggering an avalanche outside of wind loaded terrain is unlikely.