October snow drifting on Mt. Blackmore after heavy snowfall and strong west winds on October 19th.
Photo: G. Antonioli
Northern Gallatin
Wind was blowing and drifting recent snow in the Bridger Range the morning of October 15th. Photo: B. VandenBos
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Mon Oct 19, 2020
By morning of October 11 most mountain ranges were white at the higher elevations. This picture of Saddle Peak was taken from Stone Creek up Bridger Canyon. About .6-.8" of precipitation fell throughout southwest Montana. The Fisher Creek Snotel outside of Cooke City shows 6" of snow fell at 9,100 feet. Only time will tell what melts and what sticks around, but it sure is a good sign! Photo: GNFAC
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Wed Oct 14, 2020
Skier triggered wet loose at Fairy Lake
Fairy Lake
Bridger Range
Code
WL-ASu-R1-D1.5
Elevation
9000
Aspect
NE
Latitude
45.90430
Longitude
-110.95800
Notes
From IG message on June 11, 2020: "...Just wanted to let you know, I was up by fairy lake this morning, and the new snow we got earlier this week was very much still a hazard. Skinning up the fairy lake basin was deceptive, because most of the new snow had melted out there and it was just refrozen corn, but most of the S and E aspects of that area slid naturally on the new snow. I also triggered a small point release on a NE solar aspect that ended up entraining a large amount of snow as it went and was again surprising because both my partner and I had felt quite safe on the snow we’d been on throughout our approach. It certainly caught us off guard and we got out of there safely, but was just a good reminder to not get complacent."
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Wet loose-snow avalanche
Trigger
Skier
Trigger Modifier
u-An unintentional release
R size
1
D size
1.5
Problem Type
Wet Snow
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year
This year's report documents all the work we did this past winter. You can read or download a report HERE.
"...some wet slides from Tuesday/Wednesday (5/26-5/27) up W Fork Rock Creek." Photo: S. Magro
From (5/17/20): "...WS - ASu - R3 - D2 - I SE face of Middle Basin Peak starting at 10,000' Estimated SZ of 30° Slab depth of about 8". We were out too late in the day and chose to ignore a number of observational warnings. We were lucky and remotely triggered the avalanche below us."
Avalanche Details: Skier triggered wet slab, Middle Basin
Northern Madison, 2020-05-21