24-25

Wind sculpting on Thunder Road

Date
Activity
Skiing

Wind sculpting observed along thunder road at Bridger Bowl.

Region
Bridger Range
Location (from list)
Bridger Bowl
Observer Name
Tyler Allen

Natural Avalanche near Fairy Lake

Fairy Lake
Bridger Range
Code
SS-N-R1-D1-G
Elevation
9400
Aspect
N
Latitude
45.90430
Longitude
-110.95800
Notes

From obs: "I made it up to an old crown in a north-facing chute around Fairy Lake at around 9400 ft; it broke the night of 11/6 or the morning of 11/7. It looked like a wind slab that broke on a rotten layer of facets intermixed with scree. Found facets to be fairly widespread through the bottom of the snowpack on the north-facing slopes and surface hoar on most nonsolar slopes." 

Number of slides
1
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Natural trigger
R size
1
D size
1
Bed Surface
G - Ground
Problem Type
Persistent Weak Layer
Slab Thickness
6.0 inches
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
inches
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year

From obs: "I made it up to an old crown in a north-facing chute around Fairy Lake at around 9400 ft; it broke the night of 11/6 or the morning of 11/7. It looked like a wind slab that broke on a rotten layer of facets intermixed with scree. Found facets to be fairly widespread through the bottom of the snowpack on the north-facing slopes and surface hoar on most nonsolar slopes." Photo: J. Alford

Bridger Range, 2024-11-12

From obs: "Toured up into the Blackmore/Elephant basin today to get a sense of the snowpack ahead of the upcoming storm cycle. I poked around and dug in a few spots, trying to observe variations in snow depth and to observe where the snow has been faceting. Every pit I dug, ranging from N to SE facing, had faceting near the ground, all of which reacted in stability tests, if stubbornly. The most interesting test result was an ECTP21 in this layer of basal facets. That pit was dug in a large wind drift. I saw no propagation in any other pit or test.

Northern Gallatin, 2024-11-12

Blackmore Observations

Date
Activity
Skiing

Toured up into the Blackmore/Elephant basin today to get a sense of the snowpack ahead of the upcoming storm cycle. I poked around and dug in a few spots, trying to observe variations in snow depth and to observe where the snow has been faceting. Every pit I dug, ranging from N to SE facing, had faceting near the ground, all of which reacted in stability tests, if stubbornly. The most interesting test result was an ECTP21 in this layer of basal facets. That pit was dug in a large wind drift. I saw no propagation in any other pit or test.

Strong wind gusts were moving large amounts of snow in the alpine, while below treeline they did not exceed moderate speeds and wind transport was non existent. Large drifts were present on lee slopes, while more exposed windward slopes had little to no snow.

Otherwise the snowpack has behaved as one would expect. Solar aspects and exposed flats have a 2-3cm thick sun crust on the surface, and a further complex of crusts throughout the shallow snow pack. Snow depth ranged from 0 - 100 cm throughout the basin, and was generally thinner on solar aspects. Pretty bad skiing all around, not excluding the rock gardens on the skinner out.

Region
Northern Gallatin
Location (from list)
Mt Blackmore
Observer Name
Wyatt Hubbard

Old crown, facets at fairy

Date
Activity
Skiing

I made it up to an old crown in a north-facing chute around Fairy Lake at around 9400 ft; it broke the night of 11/6 or the morning of 11/7. It looked like a wind slab that broke on a rotten layer of facets intermixed with scree. Found facets to be fairly widespread through the bottom of the snowpack on the north-facing slopes and surface hoar on most nonsolar slopes. 

Region
Bridger Range
Location (from list)
Fairy Lake
Observer Name
Jay Alford

Near ground faceting - beehive basin

Date
Activity
Skiing

Dug a small pit on NW aspect at about 9100 and saw about 5cm of faceting right on the dirt and got ECTP22 on that layer. Some surface hoar present but mostly melted off. 

Region
Northern Madison
Location (from list)
Beehive Basin
Observer Name
CD