Southern Gallatin

On Sunday, February 6, Gallatin Country Sheriff Search and Rescue and the GNFAC responded to a avalanche in Lionhead. A snowmobiler was killed on a small steep slope when a shallow avalanche carried him into a terrain trap of trees. Photo: GNFAC

Avalanche Details: Fatal Avalanche Ski Hill
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Mon Feb 7, 2022
Lionhead Range, 2022-02-06
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    • Specimen Creek

    Date
    Activity
    Skiing

    GNFAC,

    Finished up a Level 2 up Specimen Creek today, definitely the thinnest I’ve scene it. The first windswept terrain you get to is basically not skiable, but once you get back there there is 60-90 cm of faceted snow on the ground that skied alright. We got a whumph on a wind loaded slope down low, HS less than 50cm, hard slab on depth hoar. We did a few ECTs once we got back there and found largely stable snow due to lack of slab, extremely continental.

    Thanks!

    Spencer

    Region
    Southern Gallatin
    Location (from list)
    Specimen Creek
    Observer Name
    Spencer Jonas

    This morning while ascending a line on Sawtooth Mountain (Lower Novocain) we triggered an avalanche (ASu-SS-R2-D2-O)  that caught and carried my partner an estimated 180M and partially buried him. His leg and hand were unburied and excavation of the head was done in less than 2 minutes of the incident. The avalanche only involved new snow from the last 48hrs and was triggered on a MF crust/facet combo 30cm down(formed 1/30/22). The avalanche was 30cm at its deepest and 20-30M wide and ran 250M. We were lucky to find both skis and poles a little ways downslope.

    Avalanche Details: Partial Burial on Sawtooth Mountain near Goose Lake
    Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Thu Feb 3, 2022GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Fri Feb 4, 2022
    Cooke City, 2022-02-02
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    • Partial Burial on Sawtooth Mountain near Goose Lake

    Goose Lake
    Cooke City
    Code
    SS-ASu-R2-D2-O
    Elevation
    10800
    Aspect
    SE
    Latitude
    45.14370
    Longitude
    -109.90400
    Notes

    This morning while ascending a line on Sawtooth Mountain (Lower Novocain) we triggered an avalanche (ASu-SS-R2-D2-O)  that caught and carried my partner an estimated 180M and partially buried him. His leg and hand were unburied and excavation of the head was done in less than 2 minutes of the incident. The avalanche only involved new snow from the last 48hrs and was triggered on a MF crust/facet combo 30cm down(formed 1/30/22). The avalanche was 30cm at its deepest and 20-30M wide and ran 250M. We were lucky to find both skis and poles a little ways downslope. No injuries were sustained.

    We both agree that we were trying to outsmart the instability that was present on steeper S facing terrain and should have turned around much sooner, we were very lucky. There was 30+cm HST in favored areas and the high winds from 1/31/22 formed some sensitive windslabs in specific areas. 

     

    Number of slides
    1
    Number caught
    1
    Number buried
    1
    Number killed
    0
    Avalanche Type
    Soft slab avalanche
    Trigger
    Skier
    Trigger Modifier
    u-An unintentional release
    R size
    2
    D size
    2
    Bed Surface
    O - Old snow
    Problem Type
    New Snow
    Slab Thickness
    30.0 centimeters
    Vertical Fall
    300ft
    Slab Width
    90.00ft
    Weak Layer Grain type
    Faceted Crystals
    Slab Layer Grain Type
    Precipitation Particles
    Images
    Partial Burial on Sawtooth Mtn near Goose Lake
    Slab Thickness units
    centimeters
    Single / Multiple / Red Flag
    Single Avalanche
    Advisory Year
    21-22
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