Bridger Range

Saw a small recent looking storm slab avalanche that appeared to be naturally triggered above the road on a south facing slope around 6000'.  It ran all the way across the slope ~30' wide and  ~4" deep within the recent snow.  The snow didn't move far enough to reach the road.  The slope was quite steep-- we didn't measure but I'd estimate 40*.

We also had localized cracking around our skis with planar breaks on that interface throughout the day, as well as a shooting crack when a member of our group jumped on a south facing test slope.  On our way back down we saw an even smaller (~10' across) avalanche on a SW facing creek bank that appeared to be triggered by another party as a test slope.  Both of these test slopes were steep and we had no results on two other, less steep slopes.

Toured up to the low angle meadows on the NE shoulder of Ross Peak. Dug a 8000ft and found no action in an extended column test but a significant result in a propagation saw test (PST END 20/100) at about 90 cm down. Some recent small avalanches in steep terrain along Brackett Creek that broke naturally within the storm snow from 1/3. 

We triggered a wind slab. It propagated about 200 ft wide and was 3 ft at the deepest point. Interestingly on the edges and near the bottom (downhill side) of the slab it was only a few inches deep. It broke on the interface between the wind loaded snow and the light and dry snow we received a few days ago. Photo: A Shafer

We triggered a wind slab. It propagated about 200 ft wide and was 3 ft at the deepest point. Interestingly on the edges and near the bottom (downhill side) of the slab it was only a few inches deep. It broke on the interface between the wind loaded snow and the light and dry snow we received a few days ago. Photo: A Shafer

We triggered a wind slab. It propagated about 200 ft wide and was 3 ft at the deepest point. Interestingly on the edges and near the bottom (downhill side) of the slab it was only a few inches deep. It broke on the interface between the wind loaded snow and the light and dry snow we received a few days ago. Photo: A Shafer

Toured up the ramp this morning, found between 3-6" of new snow on the skin track, winds were fairly strong from the north/northwest and moving snow. Snow was falling heavily for the duration of the tour. As we made our last switchback in the ridge line meadow (8500ft directly east facing) near the top of the ramp, we triggered a wind slab. It propagated about 200 ft wide and was 3 ft at the deepest point. Interestingly on the edges and near the bottom (downhill side) of the slab it was only a few inches deep. It broke on the interface between the wind loaded snow and the light and dry snow we received a few days ago. When we entered the upper meadow there was no evidence of tracks from the day before. Further down the ramp we found cross loaded rolls that produced shooting cracks and collapses, and active snow loading from the new snow and wind. A half hour later on our ski down, the skin track was partially buried by new snow as we exited the area. 

Little Ellis now has (barely) enough cover to be skiiable (at least up high - still marginal lower down). Dug a pit on the NE aspect 100 yard NE of the summit. Found unconsolidated snow all the way down to the ground (roughly 36" deep). Negative ECT.