Cooke City

Snowpack on Henderson Bench on NE facing slope

Wet Loose avalanche at Lulu on South facing slope

Old wind slab avalanche on Henderson that likely failed on old facets near the ground after heavy wind loading. NE facing at about 10,100 ft.

1cm surf hoar at Lulu

Henderson bench NE facing profile

Lulu pass South facing profile

Lots of surface hoar. Those crystals are often destroyed before being buried, but surface hoar is a good sign of weather conditions that are good for near surface faceting.

The upper few inches of snow is a mix of broken snowflakes that are starting to facet a little bit. Not too terrible yet.

Deeper layers of old November snow closer to the ground are faceted and breaking in stability tests. To get an avalanche breaking on those facets, I think you need an old wind slab on top. Even then, I think the sensitivity has dropped a lot. 

We did see one recent wet loose avalanche that started near some exposed rocks in a place that typically gets wet. I did NOT see any wet loose slides in East and Southeast-facing gullies on Barronette peak. However, I'd be nervous ice climbing in these gullies when the sun is hitting them.

"At 9410ft, NNW aspect, 10 degree slope, we found HS 75cm. The general structure seems right side up. There are facets at the bottom 20cm or so, but they are wet, and seem to be rounding. An ECT gave us ECTN20 at 40cm down." Photo: N. Mattes 

From email: "Ernest and I dug a pit while setting up the yurt today, just off of the roundabout below the yurt. At 9410ft, NNW aspect, 10 degree slope, we found HS 75cm. The general structure seems right side up. There are facets at the bottom 20cm or so, but they are wet, and seem to be rounding. An ECT gave us ECTN20 at 40cm down. Here's a quick hand hardness profile. The bottom 20cm is slightly less hard than what's above it." Photo: N. Mattes 

WE facing snow at 8100 ft Cabin Ck