Photos

Big Sky Ski Patrol triggered this avalanche during mitigation work in The Wave on 11/26/24... "2-3' deep on an ice crust just above the ground with a 2# shot in the Upper rodeo. Volume was limited as most of the snow was loaded just underneath the cornice, but still produced a sizeable size 2... Other paths in the Lenin region ran meaty wind slabs, full track with no significant step downs." Photo: BSSP

Driving up Bridger Canyon this morning, we noted several natural avalanches in wind loaded terrain on Saddle Peak, the Football Field, and in Mundy’s Bowl. All The avalanches seems to be a similar wind slab problem. They broke just below the cornice line. Photo: GNFAC

Cracking on old, faceted, October snow hundreds of feet long. North facing near treeline. Photo: BSSP

Intentional, human-triggered avalanche by a ski patrol breaking at the ground on a north facing slope near treeline. Photo: BSSP

From obs: "I dug a quick pit just off from the ridge and noted an HS of 55cm with an 3cm decomposing crust about 29cm up from the ground. Snowpack ranged from fist hardness down to 1 finger at the base. And though the grains at the ground had some edges and corners, I did not note truly faceted snow at the base."

Photo: H. Darby 

Wind was ripping on the ridge and creating hard wind slabs 3-6” in depth. Photo: C. Avis 

Snowpack on Ski Hill at Lionhead. Photo: GNFAC

Sawtelle snowpack. Photo: GNFAC

Photo: A.A.

Photo: A.A.

Photo: A.A.

View looking south towards the Pyramid. Photo: J. Negri

Photo: J. Negri

Evidence of cross loading on Sheep Mountain. Photo: J. Negri

The snowpack remains thin (20-25 inches of mostly unconsolidated base) and there were plenty of rocks and stumps to hit, but coverage was better than I expected (and probably better than most of December 2023). Photo: GNFAC

On the drive toward Gallatin Canyon this morning, we saw large plumes of snow blowing off the high peaks. We didn't see evidence of recent wind transport on our tour, but I'd be watching out for it. Photo: GNFAC

A small avalanche released in the northern bridger range on Sunday. Photo: Amelia

A small avalanche released in the northern bridger range on Sunday. Photo: Amelia

Skiers in the upper part of Beehive Basin noted shooting cracks within the wind-drifted snow. Photo: T. Cox

Snowboarders in the northern Bridger Range found a thin snowpack with wind slabs layered on wind slabs. Photo: Z. Bailey