20-21
Fawn Pass
Date
Activity
Skiing
GNFAC,
Did a recon mission for a trip we’re doing later in the year up to Fawn Pass today. I’ve attached a photo of a small, D1.5, slide I saw on a thin S facing slope at 9000’. It was definitely more than a few days old. The moderate winds were fridged on the ridges, there was 3-4” of fresh snow up high. Winds were picking up when I was leaving around 4pm. HS in the areas you would want to ski is 130-180cm, with a distinct drop felt with a probe at the bottom of the pack. Other areas are very scoured up there. I’ve done some dog tours up Dudley and Lick Creek the last 2 days and have not seen any obvious signs of instability. The T-Roots picked up an inch of SWE in 6 hours 5 days ago. We’ve had some cancellations so we haven’t been up there until today but it sounds like we had a good size 3 slide hit the summer trail, presumably during that loading event. I wasn’t up there so I don’t have details yet but it was the first sizeable old snow slide so far this year. We’ve still been getting propagating test results at the ground and have been wondering why we haven’t been seeing more slides, but I guess we finally reached the critical load!
Thanks!
Spencer
Region
Southern Gallatin
Observer Name
Spencer Jonas
Sage Basin Avalanche
Taylor Fork
Southern Madison
Code
SS-NC-R3-D2-O
Elevation
9250
Aspect
NE
Latitude
45.06070
Longitude
-111.27200
Notes
This avalanche failed on a heavily wind-loaded slope in Sage Basin along the ridgeline. It may have initiated as a cornice fall or a wind-slab, but it broke down to deeply buried facets. Even though it was a small slope, the slide had enough power to knock down a tree and piled debris deeply at the bottom of the slope.
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Cornice fall
R size
3
D size
2
Bed Surface
O - Old snow
Problem Type
Persistent Weak Layer
Slab Thickness
36.0 inches
Vertical Fall
100ft
Slab Width
150.00ft
Images
Attached Videos
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year
Taylor Fork
Date
Activity
Snowmobiling
Hey guys Brent and I came across your sleds in Taylor Fork today. We were just curious, do you always park them with your ski tips touching?
Region
Southern Madison
Location (from list)
Taylor Fork
Observer Name
Jim Norlander
This recent avalanche failed on a heavily wind-loaded slope in Sage Basin along the ridgeline. It may have initiated as a cornice fall or a wind-slab, but it broke down to deeply buried facets. Even though it was a small slope, the slide had enough power to knock down a tree and piled debris deeply at the bottom of the slope. Photo: GNFAC
Avalanche Details: Sage Basin Avalanche
Southern Madison, 2021-02-28
There was 6' of snow off the ridge in the Bridger Range on an east facing slope. The top 2 feet were recent wind drifting that broke clean in our stability test which indicated unstable conditions (ECTP18). We expect similar conditions and instability with wind-loaded slops throughout our forecast area. Photo: GNFAC
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Mon Mar 1, 2021
In the last 24 hours (2/28) 12" of low density powder and 40-50 mph west wind made it easy to trigger wind-drifted snow. Alex kicked these drifts which cracked and moved. We expect similar conditions and instability with wind-loaded slops throughout our forecast area. Photo: GNFAC
Forecast link: GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Mon Mar 1, 2021