There were a couple of avalanches on E Henderson, one that I think happened today, a few on E Sheep Mountain, some shallower avalanches, and plenty of loose dry snow moving around in the steeps. Photo: N Mattes
There were a couple of avalanches on E Henderson, one that I think happened today, a few on E Sheep Mountain, some shallower avalanches, and plenty of loose dry snow moving around in the steeps. Photo: N Mattes
Went snowmobiling north of Cooke City today near Round Lake. I saw about 20cm of new snow. I also saw some avalanches. There were a couple on E Henderson, one that I think happened today, a few on E Sheep Mountain, some shallower avalanches, and plenty of loose dry snow moving around in the steeps. Here are some photos. Some looked like they were from today, some are older. Lots of evidence of wind from the past day or so.
Ian and I rode north of Cooke City, had good visibility, and saw terrain from Daisy Pass to Mt. Abundance back to Lulu Pass, around the south side of Scotch Bonnet, then back around the north side of Sheep Mtn. to Round Lake.
We saw many avalanches of various types and ages. Some occurred today and within the last 24 hours and some were up to a week old. Avalanche types ranged from 3-6' deep and broke on weak layers near the bottom of the snowpack to shallow soft, fresh wind slabs, and we saw one 3-4' deep slide that looked like it broke within recent new and wind-drifted snow (photo attached, north end of Henderson).
The most notable avalanches were 2-3 slides that happened today:
1) When we rode away from our snowpit on Mt. Abundance we saw a fresh 3'deep x 10' wide slide that we might have remote triggered from the flat ridge above (photo attached). 2) About 45 minutes later, from a couple miles away, we saw a 4-6' deep avalanche that happened since we had been there, about 1000' up the ridge from our snowpit (photo). This slide was either natural or remote triggered by riders about 1000' away who were there after we were. 3) An avalanche on the south end of Henderson Bench that looked fresh and someone else thought happened today. This one was 6' deep and broke at the bottom of the snowpack.
There was also a very large avalanche on the north side of Fisher Mtn. that happened at some time in the last week (could have been 48 hours to a week old), regardless of timing, this slide further shows the deeper weak layers are a real problem as snowfall continues to adds weight to the snowpack.
Our snowpit produced an ECTX and had 4' of snow above a layer of surface hoar buried one foot off the ground with facets below.
Toured up the Boundary of Yellowstone Park today. Performed stability tests on two different aspects at two different elevations and these were our results.
No recent avalanche activity seen. One large collapse near a ridge line with thin snowpack (<70cm)
Deep Slab on Northern aspects still a player. Rounding Basal Facets found on South and West aspects
Skied south of Cooke today and noticed a large natural avalanche just north of the South Siren. N-R2-D2.5-O. It wasn't fresh and likely ran during the last storm cycle.
We dug on an east aspect at 9800', ECTX, HS150. No cr, co.
Skied south of Cooke today and noticed a large natural avalanche just north of the South Siren. N-R2-D2.5-O. It wasn't fresh and likely ran during the last storm cycle.
We dug on an east aspect at 9800', ECTX, HS150. No cr, co.
Skied north of Cooke today. The light wasn't great, but I think there is an older avalanche on the east face of Miller Ridge in steep terrain. Could barely make out a crown line near the ridge and old debris on the apron. Maybe it ran 3-5 days ago? No cr, co and the winds were light out of the W-NW, moderate at ridge tops. We picked up 8cm of low density new snow overnight, plus an additional 1cm throughout the day today.
Skied north of Cooke today. The light wasn't great, but I think there is an older avalanche on the east face of Miller Ridge in steep terrain. Could barely make out a crown line near the ridge and old debris on the apron. Maybe it ran 3-5 days ago? No cr, co and the winds were light out of the W-NW, moderate at ridge tops. We picked up 8cm of low density new snow overnight, plus an additional 1cm throughout the day today.
