We saw this recent avalanche near the Bear Creek wilderness boundary while riding on 03/24/2024. Photo: GNFAC
We saw this natural avalanche on a wind-loaded slope behind McAtee Basin. Photo: GNFAC
We rode up Buck Ridge towards the Bear Creek Wilderness boundary, along the way we found 6 to 10 inches of new snow that fell over the last 24 hours. In many areas this new snow has formed large drifts even in treed areas. Behind McAtee Basin, we saw a small natural wind slab avalanche on an east facing slope, and we saw a natural wind slab in Bear Creek. From a nearby ridge line we could see snow being transported at ridge tops. On a small test slope near Muddy Creek we intentionally triggered several small avalanches in wind loaded terrain. In First Yellow Mule we dug a snow pit on a north facing slope, at 9,300’. We saw ECTN 13 and 14 scores below the new snow.
Strong north wind prevailed through most of the day at or near ridge lines. We saw lots of evidence of both cross loading and wind loading on many slopes.
Would like to preface this by saying my buddy and I have limited experience testing and poor technique, but we gave it hell anyway.
We dug a pit on the east side of the ridge between beehive and middle basin, and did a compression test. The column was somewhat poorly isolated, and we were not able to get it to fail with a normal tap test. By stomping on it from above, we got a fracture at about 75cm depth on what looked like an earlier season rain crust. Everything above that level was very dense, stable and hard to dig. The surface had about 10cm fresh snow with a hard crust below. Image of snow profile is attached. Pit coordinates were 45.32897, -111.38197. Overall we felt like this aligned with the forecast quite well. Snowpack appeared very stable and cohesive until it got down to a depth below the crust at 75cm.
While traveling, we saw significant snow accumulation midday and clearing in the afternoon, followed by light snow in the evening. Test slopes and cornices we tested were stable, and we didn't see shooting cracks or hear any whumpfing. No natural avalanches observed, but visibility was poor most of the day. Wind across the ridge was substantial with notable blowing snow, blowing from the west and southwest.
Thanks for all you do!
On the drive up we could see a wet slide from yesterday that occurred in Argentina bowl, human triggered. We also got a report of a wet slide in St Lawrence path in Truman Gulch (not big). We toured along the ridge to the summit of Saddle. By 1000 the snow was softening. We dug below the first cliff band and found 7' of snow, the bottom 2' consisting of weak facets. A Deep Tap Test showed a clean shear at this interface. An avalanche could be triggered by 3 ways: more load from snowfall or wet avalanche debris, melt-water percolating through the snowpack to the facets, or human triggering from a thin spot.
By 1100 the snow was getting wet and punchy at lower elevations. Loose wet slides could trigger dry slab avalanches, a proposition we did not want to hang around for.
