Northern Gallatin

SE facing profile Cabin Creek

SE facing snow Cabin Creek

N facing profile Cabin Creek

N facing snow Cabin Creek, 9000 ft

We rode into Cabin Creek very delicately, and it was great to be riding in late November. Hitting rocks is the greatest threat. 

Overall conditions are thin but great to see so much snow.

9000 ft, N facing - 87 cm (~35 inches)

9100 ft, SE facing - 49 cm (~20 inches)

8100 ft, E facing - 35 cm (~13 inches)

Some faceting is occurring in the snowpack (aka - weakening), but the current state of the snowpack isn't the main issue. It's hard to appreciate how cold things are in the mountains and how cold the snow will get under clear skies. Clear nights in December will significantly weaken the snowpack, and it will look A LOT different the next time we come back. 

What we need? - Snow. We don't need a lot but a few inches every few days along with cloudy skies will help things a TON.

Where can you trigger an avalanche right now?  - I think you need to find a slope with recent wind drifts where you can either get a wind slab or persistent slab avalanche. 

Lastly - the radiation recrystallization process is happening as well. On an East-facing slope at 8100 ft at around noon, the surface of the snow was dry but snow just under the surface was damp. 

Dave and I toured into Blackmore basin today and skinned up the SE shoulder to the ridge. As we entered the basin, we immediately noticed several natural loose snow avalanches (R1 D1) in steep rocky sections of the direct E face. These looked to have occurred in the last 12 hours. Though they would not have buried someone, they would have strained a skier or rider through some nasty trees and cliffs.

Gaining the ridge, we could see there had been previous windloading on both sides. Cornice formation showed winds from the N/NW but, dropping onto the N shoulder showed evidence of windloading from the E/SE also. We dug two snowpits: one on the N shoulder and one on the E face. Varying snow depths ranged from 50-70cm and up to 90 cm in wind-loaded spots.

Our snowpits showed us two things: our snowpack is showing signs of early season faceting and our areas of most concern are wind-loaded slopes where there is a slab on top of that weak snow. In our snowpit on the E face, we got propagation at ECTP 16 at the interface between wind-blown snow and faceted grains. With this upcoming bout of high pressure, we will be continuing to dig down and see how the snowpack is changing under our feet. 

Big Sky Ski Patrol triggered this avalanche during mitigation work in The Wave on 11/26/24... "2-3' deep on an ice crust just above the ground with a 2# shot in the Upper rodeo. Volume was limited as most of the snow was loaded just underneath the cornice, but still produced a sizeable size 2... Other paths in the Lenin region ran meaty wind slabs, full track with no significant step downs." Photo: BSSP

Cracking on old, faceted, October snow hundreds of feet long. North facing near treeline. Photo: BSSP

Intentional, human-triggered avalanche by a ski patrol breaking at the ground on a north facing slope near treeline. Photo: BSSP