Northern Gallatin

We dug a pit and found a really weak snowpack! Snowpilot pit attached below. Regardless of the poor stability result, we proceeded to ski an East facing bowl south of Flanders Mountain knowing that the slope angle was low and only flirted with 30 degrees in some parts of the bowl. We could have chosen to ski the trees further to our left, but after evaluating the consequence associated with skiing the bowl, we decided that the center of the bowl did not pose too big a risk given we skied one at a time. My partner skied first, he skied practically all the way back to the skin track when the slope failed and the entire bowl released. He was pretty well out of the way of danger by the time the bowl began to move. From our perspective, the trigger happened at the bottom of the slope. The avalanche code roughly: SS-A-AS-R4-D2-O. The bowl was not the only slope that slid, the avalanche propagated around the ridge and released a slide on the more south-easterly facing aspect just south of the bowl. We tail-tucked and went home glad no one was caught or hurt.

From obs: "I went up Blackmore [1/9/21]... A pit on a south aspect at 9400’ had 100 cm, and failed at ECTP22 on large, loose facets underlying a crust about 50 cm down. A pit on a north aspect at 9400’ had 105 cm and failed at ECTP20 on the same layer, although the crust was close to nonexistent on this aspect. The snowpack overall was weaker and less consolidated here. A pit on an east aspect at 9400’ had 135 cm, and failed at ECTP25 on the same layer as the other two. I experienced a couple collapses while in shallower, treed areas on north and south aspects today.

I went up Blackmore today, to follow up on some positive results on Palace Butte yesterday that I thought I had reason to question. Today, I found something more in line with what I expected in the snowpack.

A pit on a south aspect at 9400’ had 100 cm, and failed at ECTP22 on large, loose facets underlying a crust about 50 cm down.

A pit on a north aspect at 9400’ had 105 cm and failed at ECTP20 on the same layer, although the crust was close to nonexistent on this aspect. The snowpack overall was weaker and less consolidated here.

A pit on an east aspect at 9400’ had 135 cm, and failed at ECTP25 on the same layer as the other two.

I experienced a couple collapses while in shallower, treed areas on north and south aspects today. I did not observe any recent natural activity, but do not trust the snow very much. There was a lot of great skiing to be had on 20-30 degree slopes.

I skied up to Palace Butte today, and was somewhat surprised at the conditions. A pit on a south aspect at 9300’ had HS 150 and ECTX. The upper 85 cm of the snowpack seems to be bonded quite well, but I was able to pry my shovel at the column and get it to fail on some large, loose facets underlying a ~1 cm crust at 65 cm. Not sure if this is a widespread or trustworthy bridge in the snowpack, but I felt good skiing mellow trees nearby. This was the first positive observation I have had on this region’s snowpack, and I do not have much confidence in the overall picture quite yet.
While I was out, there were moderate winds on ridge lines, and localized areas with heavy wind-effect.

GNFAC,
Toured up Mt Blackmore today, good skiing up there! It was snowing throughout the day and probably accumulated an inch or two while we were out. Winds were calm on the ridge. We dug a pit off the skin track near the ridge on a SE face around 9600’. HS was 120cm, we got an ECTP30 down 90cm on a 10cm layer of small 4f facets.
Psyched it’s snowing!
Spencer

Skied Lick Creek around 5 pm, 10-14m of new dense snow, the wind was calm, snowing S1 picking up to S2 as I was exiting. Snowpack on the east side was mostly unconsolidated once off the ridgeline. Sunk in really far while skiing and could put my poles in all the way to the ground basket side down.

Wind Crust on most exposed S facing slopes very evident. Will support any new snow and become very unstable.

We observed 4 whumpfs while touring back up the back side of lick creek. Most were minor but one shot a 30 foot crack out from the tip of my ski. We dug 1 put on that aspect and got a ECTX as a result.