From an obsevation: Skied up towards Arrowhead Bowl from Fairy Lake road. Snowpack is still very thin in the trees as you ascend towards the ridge. Strong westerly winds and exposed rocks deterred us from skiing the bowl itself. Down low we found variable conditions ranging from a few cm of graupel to a few cm of windboard and ice in places. We dug a pit at 8140 feet, 143º SE. The snowpack is 55 cm deep with a very distinct knife hard crust layer from 0-20cm above the ground, we were thinking that could be due to a rain on snow event that fell on top of the October snow.
Northern Gallatin
Natural on Saddle Peak
Saddle Peak
Bridger Range
Code
SS-N-R1-D2
Elevation
9000
Aspect
NE
Latitude
45.79430
Longitude
-110.93600
Notes
From obs. 11/10: "Fitness skinning around Bridger Bowl yesterday and noticed a fairly large, new avalanche on the east face of the North peak of Saddle. Maybe 100 feet below the ridge, about 100 wide at the crown, ran thru the rock bands but not over the cliff. Was taken back by the clean propagation." -Albert
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Natural trigger
R size
1
D size
2
Problem Type
Wind-Drifted Snow
Vertical Fall
1100ft
Slab Width
100.00ft
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year
A natural avalanche on Saddle Peak on 11/10/21. Strong winds drifted recent snow into thick slabs near the ridge. This slide was probably one of those wind slabs breaking and/or being triggered by a cornice fall. Photo: P. Hinz
Avalanche Details: Natural on Saddle Peak
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Fri Nov 12, 2021
Bridger Range, 2021-11-11
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Fri Nov 12, 2021
Skier caught in slough in the The Great One
Naya Nuki Bowl
Bridger Range
Code
L-ASu-R1-D1.5-S
Elevation
9000
Aspect
N
Latitude
45.88830
Longitude
-110.95900
Notes
From e-mail 11/7/21: "Today, my partner and I set out to ski The Great One, with a plan to come up and over Sac Peak and then walk the ridge to Naya Nikki before skiing the Great One into Airplane Bowl. We found more snow than expected at the TH, about 6inches. On our way up to the pass just north of Sac we noticed the characteristic wind stripping down to scree on the trail to the pass. On one of the switch backs we were able to get about an 1-2” deep wind slab to propagate but not move down slope. Given the depth, we didn’t put too much stock into this. We proceeded to walk the almost snow free trail over to Naya Nuki before booting down to the top of the Great One. The skiers left side of the Couloir had some obvious wind load and after a few ski cuts felt comfortable continuing to ski. After my partner skied the majority of the top section, I followed and was entrained and taken for a slide in my own ‘slough’. I was carried about 40’ before I stopped, while the slough kept running for another 100-150’ arresting on the shallower angled slope before the break in the Couloir wall that feeds into Airplane Bowl. The entrained width of moving snow was about 3-5’ wide. There were no injuries, and we continued down to the base of the Couloir, deciding it would be more dangerous to try and go back up to get out. Once in airplane bowl we saw multiple large slides that ran last night, syn-storm. Most of which came down from the East face of Sac. A few 200-300’ wide and running the length of the bowl. Early season hubris, and is not even thinking about overnight wind totals has us more or less absent minded when we set out this morning. A mistake that could’ve been a lot worse if the slough had taken a larger wind pocket with it, and carried me over the same aspect that led to the fatality in the Great One last fall. No pictures of the slough, attached is a grainy cell phone pic of the slides in Airplane Bowl."
Number caught
1
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Loose-snow avalanche
Trigger
Skier
Trigger Modifier
u-An unintentional release
R size
1
D size
1.5
Bed Surface
S - Avalanche released within new snow
Problem Type
Wind-Drifted Snow
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year
From e-mail 11/7/21: "...Once in airplane bowl we saw multiple large slides that ran last night, syn-storm. Most of which came down from the East face of Sac. A few 200-300’ wide and running the length of the bowl.,,, attached is a grainy cell phone pic of the slides in Airplane Bowl." -Anonymous.
Avalanche Details: Skier caught in slough in the The Great One
Bridger Range, 2021-11-07
From email 11/4/21: "...noticed two small wet loose avalanches in the east facing bowl between Pomp and Hardscrabble Peaks." Photo: H. Darby
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Sun Nov 7, 2021
From e-mail 11/4/21: "Hiking up in the Bridger Range from Sacagawea Pass and noticed no faceting of the current snowpack. The snow near the pass and on the ridge is very wind affected as is to be expected and dropping into the bowl on the east side of the Pass the snowpack there has a distinct sun crust. Dug around a little bit at 8600 ft on a NE aspect and found a sun crust of about two inches with what felt like rounded grains below that. Even in the direct sun, the crust was taking a long time to rewarm and was pretty slippery..." Photo: H. Darby
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Sun Nov 7, 2021
Hyalite Lake
Date
Is this evidence of an early slide / run out zone from the early snow (to left / East of photo) ?
Region
Northern Gallatin
Location (from list)
Hyalite Peak
Observer Name
Jon Budreski
Mt Blackmore
Date
This morning I toured up Mt Blackmore to check out the new snow. I tested the snowpack on a SE aspect of the east face of Blackmore at approximately 2905m in elevation. At this location, the new snow total was around 10cm. An ECT resulted in ECT16N @ 20cm. This failure occurred at an interface below a rain/ice crust that had pencil hardness and about 7cm thickness (photos). A shear test conducted on the remaining ECT column (photo), and a handful of hand shears on the approach, resulted in Q1 shears with medium to difficult effort. The new snow was well bonded to this crust and I observed no failures or movement at this interface. I observed small and isolated collapsing on the skin track during the approach (photo). Gaining the east ridge, I observed wind loading and a wet loose release on the east face (photo). With additional snow and sun in the forecast tomorrow, I am concerned with the potential for the below crust interface to propagate.
Region
Northern Gallatin
Location (from list)
Mt Blackmore
Observer Name
Erich Schreier