Triggered by skiers on 3/2/23. "....Crown looks 5-6' deep, 150'+ wide and SW aspect." Photo: B. Zavora
The combination of wind and storm snow has created potentially hazardous conditions at mid and high elevations, be extra cautious on wind loaded slopes and wary of any slope steeper than 30 degrees whether it is wind loaded or not. We have seen in excess of 3 feet of new snow in the Centennial Mountain range during the last week alone, without any break for the newly loaded slopes to stabilize. The PWL's deeper in the snowpack are largely dormant but could still be triggered in the shallower areas. Or a large loose snow avalanche could step down to the deeply buried PWL's. With the new round of snow expected during the next 48 hours, things could get a little dicey.
Over 20 inches of new snow has collected during the previous 4 days. Additionally we have accumulated new snow during 12 of the last 13 days.
Upwards of 20 inches of snow is available for transport. Light winds can move a large amount of snow. More snow is scheduled for most days of the next week.
I only found one avalanche during today's tour, but our route was cut short just when we were going into the best terrain for avalanche activity because the travelling conditions became so difficult. NE aspect at 9000', crown broke about 3' deep immediately under the cornice. R2 D1 naturally triggered likely early morning of 3 March.
I saw some failures with my CT, but the extended column test scored an ECTX. The storm snow from the previous 48 hours has become my biggest concern with plenty of snow available for transport. Many large and deep soft wind drifts were encountered throughout the day.
My biggest concern is in the additional weight added to the snowpack incrementally most days during the last two weeks. With the available snow for transport and heavily wind loaded slopes our mountain terrain has become very hazardous on any slope steeper than 30 degrees.
All terrain above 30 degrees has been closed. We stayed on shallow slopes the whole day and were very aware of surroundings at all times. This is not the time to explore unknown terrain only to find yourself in a dangerous situation.
Skier triggered avalanche near Daisy Pass that was triggered the afternoon of 3/2/23. Photo: R. Stacy
Skier triggered avalanche near Daisy Pass that was triggered the afternoon of 3/2/23. Photo: R. Stacy
From IG message: "Yesterday on March 2nd we were on the trail to daisy pass just before the bowl in cooke city. There were 12 of us of us no total. Just behind us a large avalanche came down covering the trail and clearing trees on the way. We went to investigate to make sure there were no burials when 2 skiers came down and said they were stomping on the facet layer and triggered it intentionally. The slide swept the skier’s parked snowmobile off trail and carried it about 100 feet."
From IG message: "Yesterday on March 2nd we were on the trail to daisy pass just before the bowl in cooke city. There were 12 of us of us no total. Just behind us a large avalanche came down covering the trail and clearing trees on the way. We went to investigate to make sure there were no burials when 2 skiers came down and said they were stomping on the facet layer and triggered it intentionally. The slide swept the skier’s parked snowmobile off trail and carried it about 100 feet."
From email: Hi, I noticed the slide that went over the Daisy pass road was labeled natural. We rode over it in the afternoon around 5pm and it hadn't been there when we went over the pass early that morning. We heard from a couple of other snowmobilers that some folks had been skiing up there, parked a sled at the bottom for their lap, then triggered the slide by ski cut before they dropped in. The slide buried their sled and they had to dig it out. Here's a few photos that I took that afternoon."
From IG message: "Yesterday on March 2nd we were on the trail to daisy pass just before the bowl in cooke city. There were 12 of us of us no total. Just behind us a large avalanche came down covering the trail and clearing trees on the way. We went to investigate to make sure there were no burials when 2 skiers came down and said they were stomping on the facet layer and triggered it intentionally. The slide swept the skier’s parked snowmobile off trail and carried it about 100 feet."
