Northern Gallatin

A skier saw this avalanche get triggered at Bridger Bowl (Schlasmans Lift) this afternoon 12/2/2020. "...The toe of the slide was all of 6’ deep. There is about a foot of fresh sitting on top of faceted crust that is sitting on top of more facets and another crust,..." Photo: Anonymous

We found 75-80 cm of snow at approx. 9550 feet, SE aspect with two solar/melt-freeze crusts at 60 and 35 cm. Results from our extended column were ETCN24 on the lower melt/freeze crust. This layer was clearly visible in the pit, but surprisingly not very dense. The shear quality from our CT was mostly smooth, but held no shear energy. No results on the upper solar crust; perhaps a shovel tilt would have provided more information due to the soft 11/25 storm snow. Also surprising was the the lack of weak, large grain facets at the ground. Either an oversight on our part or only time will remind us that we live in a continental snowpack afterall : )

A few small natural point release loose snow avalanches were noted near rocks and buttresses. Wind was evident from Thursday-Friday with cornices and small sastrugi on high elevation north facing aspects. Nil to light wind loading today. Observations in photo attached (please don't share). Excellent day for wiggles.

Thanks for all you do guys! Looking forward to regular forecasts soon.

Watch the video HERE!

Walked around up Flanders today... 10-12 cm new snow that came in as rain. Plenty of rime and snice crusts all over the trees and cliffs. ATL probably got a bit more. Winds were calm and we didn’t observe anything more than a few dry loose in steep terrain. We only walked up to 8k or so but the ”pack” that we observed was essentially just the new snow. Obs from before the storm was that snow persisted in some shaded areas above 8k but mostly above 8500.

65 cm on the ground on a north aspect ~9700’. East aspects were getting heavily loaded above tree line and probably have a substantially deeper snowpack. ECTP-23 on a crust/facet sandwich 25 cm down (right below the old/new interface). There was another thin FC layer midway down and already some large depth hoar grains at the ground. Deep Slabs 2021 here we come!!

The BBWC (Bridger Bowl Wind Cloud) on Tuesday 10/27 accompanied 50-60 mph gusts. This strong wind drifted recent snow into slabs that could avalanche on steep slopes. Early season snow means we need to be thinking about and managing avalanche hazard when we travel in the mountains. Photo: GNFAC