23-24

Remote trigger - saddle between Beaver Creek/First Yellowmule

Date
Activity
Snowmobiling

Member in our group was on the flank of the slope. Crack shot from beneath sled and triggered the slope from ~ 100’ away. Broke about 75 yards wide, ripped to dirt and travelled a short ways to toe of the slope. North facing, 9220’ 

Region
Northern Madison
Location (from list)
Buck Ridge
Observer Name
Matt Rolfson

Photos of Natural Avalanche on Ernie Miller

Date
Activity
Skiing

Photos of a natural avalanche in the NE/E facing bowl of Ernie Miller Ridge. Likely happened in the last few days. 

We saw one other small avalanche in the trees below the ridge too far for a decent photo. 

Region
Southern Madison
Location (from list)
Ernie Miller Ridge
Observer Name
Zach Peterson

Recent Avalanches near Hebgen

Date
Activity
Skiing

Toured up an east facing slope near the northwest arm of Hebgen Lake. We did not experience any collapsing or cracking on or off our ascent route but we did experience whumpfs on the ski down. At the top of the ridge at 9000 ft on either side of our skin track were three different avalanches. They all looked to be natural. One was pre recent storms, one was perhaps 24-48 hours old and maybe 500 feet wide, and one looked to be very recent, perhaps in the last 12 hours. We got a good look at the recent slide. It had no tracks in or out of it. It was at least 200 feet wide and broke 1-1.5 meters deep, gouging to the ground in spots and ran to the trees almost full path. Besides the avalanches, near the ridge line was a 30° planar slope that had a small concavity. There were shooting cracks everywhere, and it looked like the cracks propagated into a slab that would have broken up more if the slope had been steeper. It almost looked like a crevasse field with how many cracks there were. Photo is included but I don't think shows just how broken up that "relatively benign" terrain was. I have never seen anything like that before! 

Region
Lionhead Range
Location (from list)
Hebgen Lake
Observer Name
Haylee Darby

Small triggered slide + ice/minor facet pit exploration

Date
Activity
Skiing

Was up at Beehive today from 8am-2pm. On our way up, snow was consistently whumping underfoot and in one of these instances, we triggered a small slide that went for 10-15 feet around the coordinates (45.34789, -111.39892) towards the top of the basin. Decided to dig a pit a bit further up the hill for some practice and discovered a weak icy layer a couple feet down, with a couple feet of minor to moderate facets 4-5 feet down.

Region
Northern Madison
Location (from list)
Beehive Basin
Observer Name
Sam Risser, Keegan Wickstrom, Russell Conti

Ross Peak Meadows

Date
Activity
Skiing

Toured up Brackett Creek to 8000’ on the E shoulder of Ross Peak. Depth of 90-120cm near 8000’. No propagation in ECT (ENE 7900’). Lots of trail breaking and no collapsing or whumps. No avalanches observed. 

Region
Bridger Range
Location (from list)
Ross Peak
Observer Name
Chris Pruden

Collapsing at Buck Ridge

Buck Ridge
Northern Madison
Code
Latitude
45.17210
Longitude
-111.39100
Notes

Collapsing noted along Buck Ridge.

From obs: "The Bozeman Snow Ranger crew... noticed the snow settling significantly as I rode around on the flats in the Slatt's hill area- the SE facing basin opposite 2nd Yellowmule."

Number of slides
0
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Red Flag
Advisory Year

Natural and remotely triggered avalanches at Lionhead

Lionhead Ridge
Lionhead Range
Code
AMr
Latitude
44.73480
Longitude
-111.36900
Notes

From facebook: "We saw 4 different avalanches today at the west end of lions head. One triggered close to us. We were at the bottom in a safe spot on a high spot. North 44.73482. West 111.36946. 100 feet wide 100 feet vertical. Broke to the ground. Afterwards we watched 4 more go from a 1/4 mile to 1/2 mile away from us as we were in a safe position on a high spot watching them go. I'm sure we triggered the first one from the bottom, but we were 100 feet from the slope toe."

Number of slides
4
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Trigger
Snowmobile
Trigger Modifier
r-A remote avalanche released by the indicated trigger
Vertical Fall
100ft
Slab Width
100.00ft
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Multiple Avalanches
Advisory Year