24-25

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>My head is still spinning trying to make sense of avalanche conditions following this roller coaster of weather, and frankly I don’t have any trust in the snowpack at the moment.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The biggest issue is recent </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><span>hurricane force winds from the south</span></span></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>. The Big Sky Ski Patrol intentionally triggered an avalanche with explosives on a slope loaded by these winds producing a slide up to 7 feet deep breaking on the old snow surface from dry weather in late January. They haven’t seen an avalanche like that on that slope in 40-50 years. What do you think we might find in the backcountry? (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/34027"><span><span><span><span><span><…;, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.kbzk.com/news/local-news/avalanche-triggered-during-mitigat… story</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Near Cooke City, large avalanches have been spotted on </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/25/avalanche-north-crown-butte"><spa… Butte</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/25/scotch-bonnet-north-avalanche"><s… Bonnet</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/25/natural-avalanche-mt-henderson-ne…;, and</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/25/natural-avalanche-miller-ridge-ne…; </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><u><span><span>Miller Ridge</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>. Near West Yellowstone on Lionhead, slightly smaller but many fresh wind slabs were </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/33978"><span><span><span><span><span><… on Tuesday</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>. Yesterday at low elevations in the cold air (below the inversion) on Mt Ellis in the northern Gallatin Range, a skier triggered and spotted </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/34015"><span><span><span><span><span><… storm slab avalanches in the new snow</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>When you add it all up, these are dangerous avalanche conditions creating several avalanche problems stacked on top of each other - wind slabs, persistent slabs, storm slabs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<ol>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>There are weak layers of small facets buried 1-3 feet deep that formed during dry weather in late January. These weak layers seem more widespread the further south you go.&nbsp;See this video near </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/y7Nm5dbbBqQ?feature=shared"><span><span><spa… Yellowstone</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span> and this one near </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://youtube.com/shorts/BzI5yK0R7FU?feature=shared"><span><span><spa… Sky</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>There has been a lot of snow from this weekend and yesterday.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>The snow surface got a coating of dust and then became wet on some slopes during warm temperatures late Tuesday.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>There have been really strong winds from the south and west. Shifting wind directions and new snow yesterday will make it harder to identify recent wind slabs.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ol>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For today the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE. I’m unsure of the likelihood of triggering avalanches today, but I know these are dangerous conditions requiring careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route finding, and conservative decision making.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The main avalanche problems in the Bridgers are tied to yesterday’s 6-9” of new snow and winds from the north, south, and west both yesterday and earlier this week creating a wind slab avalanche problem. Storm slabs that were sensitive yesterday during high snowfall rates shouldn’t be much of an issue today but still something to watch out for.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<ul>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Skiers north of Bridger Bowl on the ridge spotted numerous </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><span>wind slabs</span></span></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span> that released naturally like </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/25/wind-slab-crown-hourglass-couloir… in the Hourglass couloir</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span> not too deep but 200’ wide.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Another group below heard those avalanches rumbling down but were in safe locations.</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>On Tuesday, three skiers triggered an avalanche on a wind-loaded terrain feature on Saddle Peak that ran 400 vertical feet. Thankfully, no one was caught, and the slide stopped above the large cliffs (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/34007"><span><span><span><strong><span…;).</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
<li><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/34014"><span><span><span><span><span><… north towards Ross Peak</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, skiers observed cracking and many small storm slab avalanches that seemed to be at lower elevations underneath the inversion&nbsp; where the new snow landed on old cold snow.&nbsp;</span></span></span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Today dangerous avalanche conditions exist where winds deposited yesterday’s snow and the danger is CONSIDERABLE on wind loaded slopes. Non-wind loaded slopes have a MODERATE danger where there may be some lingering storm slab instabilities. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>