Trip Planning for Northern Gallatin

We noticed several natural loose snow avalanches (R1 D1) in steep rocky sections of the direct E face of Mt Blackmore. Though they were not large enough to bury someone, they would have strained a skier or rider through some nasty trees and cliffs. Photo: GNFAC

WE facing snow at 8100 ft Cabin Ck

SE facing snow Cabin Creek

N facing snow Cabin Creek, 9000 ft

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

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

Photo: A.A.

Photo: A.A.

Photo: A.A.

A 12" deep snowpack at History Rock. 11/14/24. Photo: GNFAC

Snow and dirt at History Rock on November 14, 2024. Photo: GNFAC

From obs: "Toured up into the Blackmore/Elephant basin today to get a sense of the snowpack ahead of the upcoming storm cycle. I poked around and dug in a few spots, trying to observe variations in snow depth and to observe where the snow has been faceting. Every pit I dug, ranging from N to SE facing, had faceting near the ground, all of which reacted in stability tests, if stubbornly. The most interesting test result was an ECTP21 in this layer of basal facets. That pit was dug in a large wind drift. I saw no propagation in any other pit or test.

Strong wind gusts were moving large amounts of snow in the alpine, while below treeline they did not exceed moderate speeds and wind transport was non existent. Large drifts were present on lee slopes, while more exposed windward slopes had little to no snow.

Otherwise the snowpack has behaved as one would expect. Solar aspects and exposed flats have a 2-3cm thick sun crust on the surface, and a further complex of crusts throughout the shallow snow pack. Snow depth ranged from 0 - 100 cm throughout the basin, and was generally thinner on solar aspects. Pretty bad skiing all around, not excluding the rock gardens on the skinner out." Photo: W. Hubbard

Snowpit at Bridger Bowl on 11/5. Photo: B. VandenBos

From e-mail: "Photo attached from near top of hyalite peak, 11/2. Cracking in recent hard wind slab, I had to really jump hard to make this. Walked on many other hard slabs that were well bonded. Highly variable snowpack. I think you'd be most likely to get into trouble by popping out a small hard slab pocket like this and getting magic carpeted into some thinly covered terrain." Photo: B. VandenBos

An intense period of snowfall on October 28 dropped 6” of snow in the Hyalite Canyon area. Photo: GNFAC

From obs: "1-3 mm faceting in front of the Montage. Clear skys and mid 20 temps"

A hiker on Mt. Blackmore noted 5-10 inches of snow on east through north aspects. Photo: B. VandenBos

A hiker on Mt. Blackmore noted 5-10 inches of snow on east through north aspects. Photo: B. VandenBos

On October 17, rain turned to snow and blanketed the mountains of southwest Montana with a fresh coat of snow. Photo: Yellowstone Club Webcam

On October 17, rain turned to snow and blanketed the mountains of southwest Montana with a fresh coat of snow. Photo: Bridger Bowl Webcams

The 26th annual fundraiser for the Friends of the GNFAC is October 25 at the Emerson Cultural Center. More info and tickets at: https://events.eventgroove.com/event/Powder-Blast-2024-101627