Cooke City

No Recent avalanche activity observed in Hayden Creek or Republic Creek today with the the exception of some small dry loose in steep terrain. No Collapsing or Cracking during our day out today. 2" new at 8700' at 9am with another inch throughout the day. East winds were light throughout the day.

Observed some cracking in wind drifted snow above tree line NE facing slope. No avalanches observed 

Dug a pit at 9650ft on a 20° NE facing slope near Zimmer Creek. HS 210-230. ECTN14 at about 40cm down.  

Today we observed wet loose avalanches in steep, rocky terrain on the west side of Miller ridge. SW facing, 9500 ft

Snowpit location was 35 meters below drop in point on east face.

Snowpit attached from Mt. Republic today.  East aspect, 10,000'.

HS 165, ECTP22 at 65.  

No collapsing, no cracking, no avalanche activity to report.  

40 deg F at Fisher Creek SNOTEL today (9100').

Snowpit attached from an east aspect at 9400', south of Cooke City today.

HS 250 cms, with the Feb. 3rd dust layer about 100cms from the surface.  EXTX.

Below the dust layer there were 1mm rounding facets, that were 1F hard.

No avalanche activity observed, with LOTS of looking around.  No collapsing, no cracking.

Temps around 40F in the valley, but minimal wet loose activity observed so far.  The warmup has been gradual the last 2 days, with good freezes at night.

Also, there was a wolverine up on the mountain this morning!

Riding in this morning, we saw this older wet slide on the Portal Creek road down low at about 6400' in elevation on a south facing slope by lots of exposed rocks. For reference, Gallatin River is 5800' in this area.

We didn't see any fresh ones on our way out at about 2:30. 

The most likely places for big wet slides are slopes or areas with exposed rocks and cliffs. Generally these wet slides happen a little predictably in the afternoon as the snow gets wet. We know what time of day they'll happen, but it's hard to know exactly when they'll release, so watch out when the snow is obviously wet if traveling under slopes like this. 
 

You don't need to worry about them in the morning, when the snow is frozen. What a nasty avalanche with sticks, rocks, and dirt in it?