24-25

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

We toured up to the prayer flags, digging a couple of hand pits to look at the snowpack structure on Tyler's before bumping over the ridge to dig a full pit in Spanky's. We did not ski down into Bear Basin, but others had done so. We returned out through Exit Chute and back to the car. 

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). The structure was looking pretty good for early season. There were a few crust/ facet layers on west aspects, but nothing out of the normal. In our pit at the top of Spanky's (NE Facing at 9200'), there was a 10 cm layer of 4F facets at the base of the snowpack and some evidence of faceting throughout the older snow. However, the overall outlook is good for now. ECTN 14 at 41 cm and ECTN 19 and 21 at 19 cm. 

Primary concerns were the shallow snowpack (we traveled downhill very slowly) and wind slabs. 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. 

Two obvious layers. sun crust layer with a foot of wind blown on top. top layer failed while isolating column for pit test. photos are from a video that i cannot attach. it just shows the two layers. i tried to preform the test to the left but it failed prior to any taps. 

Toured up to Blackmore NE Ridge, about 200 feet from the summit Tuesday. Mix of sun and clouds. very cold, light to no winds. fresh blown snow was over 1' deep up high and felt very stable. We did not notice any wind slabs though it had been windy overnight, the N.W face of elephant was completely scoured almost down to rock. Some small cornices forming on the ridge with the slightest wind skin in some places. snowpack was around 3' deep on the lee (E) side.

Dug a snow pit on a northern aspect at Bridger Bowl around 7800ft of elevation. Snow depth ranged from 45-50cm. Had a very reactive CT 2 on the most recent snow layer around 25cm deep in the snow measured from the ground up. Attempted a hasty ECT before we lost sunlight but did not get propagation. There was visible wind loading on upper elevations as well.

Skinned up to the top of the Pierre's Knob lift and then up the Finger's Meadow, poking into top of the 1st Finger. Total snow depth was around a foot, or a little less, in the base area. Near our high point at ~7900ft, snow depths were around 18" to two feet. A snowpit on a north aspect in the top of the 1st Finger showed a "right-side-up" snowpack, with the softest snow at the surface, getting progressively harder are you go down. ECTX. A little bit of faceting was visible in the older snow, but it hadn't done much weakening. A quick hand pit on an east aspect in the Finger's Meadow showed a similar snowpack structure. Plenty of snow to trigger a slide, but still a very thin snowpack with buried rocks remaining a huge hazard.

No avalanches or other signs of instability observed. Snowed lightly but consistently all morning, with an additional inch accumulating by the time we returned to the car.