Northern Gallatin

We founds areas that were scoured to the dirt and adjacent areas loaded from the wind. The evidence of strong wind was everywhere. Photo: GNFAC

At the ridgetop of the Throne we found deep wind slabs that had cracked naturally; a sign of instability. Photo: GNFAC

From obs. 2/11/23: "...Also of note, as we traversed a corniced ridge later in the day, two of our group members simultaneously came too close to the edge of a cornice and it broke away, but did not fall down the slope. Fortunately, everyone was alright, but it was a close call..." Photo: E. Heiman

From obs. 2/11/23: "...Also of note, as we traversed a corniced ridge later in the day, two of our group members simultaneously came too close to the edge of a cornice and it broke away, but did not fall down the slope. Fortunately, everyone was alright, but it was a close call..." Photo: E. Heiman

Our group toured up into Blackmore today with the goal of skiing lines on the E and N faces. We dug a pit on a representative slope near the base of Blackmore. The pit had a depth ranging from 110 to 130 cm and showed large faceted crystals near the ground with faceted crystals present up to 60cm from the surface. We performed a shovel shear test and had a failure 60 cm from the surface, which identified our layer of interest. Our first ECT had scores of ECTN3 in the newer snow and a ECTP19 at the ground. I felt that the propagation at the ground may have been affected by some undercutting from the cord and I wanted to see if we would have propagation on the layer down 60 cm so we performed another ECT directly behind the first. This test scored ECTP29 at the layer down 60 cm, which was expected. We decided to take a slightly more conservative approach to our line choice for the remainder of the day based on these results. 
 

Also of note, as we traversed a corniced ridge later in the day, two of our group members simultaneously came too close to the edge of a cornice and it broke away, but did not fall down the slope. Fortunately, everyone was alright, but it was a close call and we will definitely be more mindful next time. We believe the cornice was made more sensitive by the warm weather over the past few days. 

While on a tour today up Wheeler gulch, we noticed a few old crowns that released before the most recent snow, hard to say if they were natural or not. We also observed a most likely remote triggered small wind slab (not our tracks next to it). Solar aspects were hot. Top of snowpack was relatively stable in our 4 foot pit, some collapse but no propagation (E aspect, 8400 feet). 

Did a full profile while out in Goose Creek today. Results indicated poor stability on a NE aspect about 7200 ft. The primary layer of concern was the buried surface hoar layer roughly 30 cm down in this location, took moderate strength (ECTP18) to get full propagation. Skiing conditions were good in the new snow from this weekend, you could subtly feel the MF crust from the time before the recent storm. We observed a small layer of surface hoar this morning, that will most likely be destroyed today from the intense sun on solar aspects.