This avalanche occurred after a skier descended the slope on March 26. East-facing at 10,000 feet. Photo: E. Young
On March 26 many natural wet slides occurred in closed terrain at Bridger Bowl. Photo: BBSP
On March 24, 2022 a group of six skiers descended the west side of Woody Ridge near an area locally
known as KNB's. Approximately a third of the way down the slope the group triggered an avalanche that
crossed three gullies, broke 1-3 feet deep, 275 feet wide (measured on GoogleEarth) and ran 700 feet
vertical. Five skiers were stopped, watching one descend the slope. Three of the stopped skiers were in a
row of dense trees directly above and adjacent to where the slide broke and two were stopped a few
feet below the trees. The avalanche caught the skier and two members of the group who were stopped
downhill of the trees. One skier was pinned against a tree and the avalanche passed him. The second
skier slid into a tree sustaining multiple suspected rib fractures. The third, who was actively skiing, was
caught, carried and partially buried with just his arm sticking out of the snow, 500 vertical feet below the
avalanche crown. All three captured skiers successfully deployed their airbags.
The three remaining members of the group switched their avalanche transceivers to search and located
all three victims, and unburied the partially buried skier within five minutes. All members of the group
had formal avalanche training: Avalanche Level 1 and 2 up to a Pro Level 2. All members of the group had
avalanche transceivers, shovels, probes and airbags. The group performed field first aid and
self-evacuated to Cooke City.
Solar input triggered small cornice collapse while booting up fat maid that ran by our group, but did not trigger anything from its impact on the slope. We saw many wet avalanches both small and large, mostly loose, but one slab that came down the south east face of Bole after skiing the pinner. Due to this information we chose not to ascend the south facing gully that follows the ridge north of Bole and ski the north couloir into Alex Lowe basin. On the north aspects we found punchy, difficult, wind affected snow from the most recent storm. It was cold, dry snow, completely un-reactive in our tests, but hooky challenging skiing.
Firm wind / sun crust on most West and South facing aspects - 1 - 2" thick
Backside of Lick Creek Ridge skied very well, still evidence of the avalanche that you triggered under the cornice, but 3 - 4 tracks had sent that cornice since the last storm cycle with a couple making unfortunate hard sweeping RH turns on that steep section with no additional sluff or fracture visible. Minimal wind transport on that side.
