24-25

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

Photo: J. Negri

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

Dave and I rode up Little Bear canyon to the cabin today . Strong SW winds had scoured most exposed areas near the cabin at 7500'. We also noticed clear wind drifting along the road. Off trail, the snowpack was supportable underfoot and we were not punching through to the ground. Temps were balmy at the truck, 45° when we left around 11am. 

Flew from Paradise Valley to Cody and saw large plumes of our snowpack moving off of the peaks and getting transported from strong winds which were more southerly in the western part of the range and westerly around Cooke. Evidence of heavy cross loading across Sheep mountain (pictures) and the whole range, I didn’t see any evidence of avalanche activity. 

Warming ahead of storm system

Tons of wind transport all over Hyalite. Gullies were spindrift torrents most of the day. Ridge lines had plumes for most of the day too. Small wind slabs building in the upper Mummy gully, approximately 6"-8" thick at most and 1F to P hardness. Some localized cracking around our boots but nothing more.

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