Northern Gallatin

From obs: "Yesterday 12/10/2023 at 0900, my climbing partner and I observed a clear crown line that extended throughout much of the east/ north east aspect of the bowl on Elephant Mountain. "

Yesterday 12/10/2023 at 0900, my climbing partner and I observed a clear crown line extend that extended throughout much of the east/ north east aspect of the bowl on Elephant Mountain. 

My partner and I were both surprised by the depth of the crown. The eastern most point of the crown (photo left) was the deepest. 
 

1 team yesterday (Saturday, not me) climbed Bobo Like and Big Sleep (first 2 pitches of each). They experienced 2x collapses but no other signed of instability.

From email: "Solo skier that released a small pocket of snow at the bottom of Super Couloir - he was not caught and it was just the recent new snow and it didn't run far."

From obs: "Windier then I expected today at me d elevations adjacent to Bridger ... Photos show lots of wind transport during the day. Felt a few collapses while skinning."

I snowshoed from the road to Garto Falls to the open meadow below the east face of Elephant. The snow depth varied significantly along the way, ranging from 2 inches to 18 inches at different points. Definitely some unstable spots where I broke through a crust that was about 3-6 inches above the ground, also some weird sinking in the newer snow from the past few days. Around 8,000 feet, the wind intensified, causing heavy drifting snow. This could be seen on every peak in the area.

From obs: 

"On descent this new snow was touchy, and we observed 2 natural avalanches, max depth 15 cm, on the small end of size 1, F hardness, running less than 30-50m exclusively in new snow. (SS-N-R1D1-N)"