On 1/20 At the top of The Ramp/Wolverine I pushed on some small wind-loaded terrain features with skis. About three inches of soft snow moved/cracked no wider than my ski width, then one step lower a hard slab cracked out about 10' wide, 10-12" deep and did not move more than a few inches downhill due to flatter terrain supporting it below. GNFAC
We reached the east ridge of beehive basin at 11:30 and it was warming up quickly. We considered skiing east into middle just before the prayer flags, but when approaching the slope to dig a pit we got a significant collapse and decided to ski a more conservative pitch further north. When continuing north on the ridge we saw a recent cornice collapse which triggered an avalanche, size unknown but pictured here. The conservative east slope was in the shade and skied well.
on the way out we got another sizable collapse when skiing west down from prayer flags, on the shallow, sunny western slope, when I edged out of the gully at the first dog leg to regroup with the party.
Snow warmed up significantly and felt heavy compared to a few days ago. Dug a snow pit on on an easterly slope. ECTP 11. Didn’t notice as much cracking as a few days ago.
Observed several natural avalanches on the ridge above the cabin in Cabin Creek. Also saw lots of shooting cracks and triggered a small slide on a short steep hill.
Had a nice tour in tele meadows in the AM given the avy danger. Snowpack was 5-8” of wetter snow on top of the old facet layer.
Every time we stepped away from the skin track or skied untracked snow heard a few whumpfs and saw shooting cracks (most in the few foot range but a few extended 40-50’ across the slope).
My partner and I were traveling along the ridgeline separating Beehive and Middle Basin. 60 meters before the prayer flags on the ridge, we were stomping on the cornices. We heard a very loud whumphf and the cornice directly below me fell. This and our stomping triggered shooting cracks along the ridge and remotely triggered a cornice 30 meters ahead of us. This cornice fall triggered a hard slab avalanche that was about 15 meters wide and ran at least 100 hundred meters, but we could not see the terminus in the trees. The crown was 1F wind slab failing on facets 35 cm deep. It immediately stepped down to basal facets in spots with total crown depth of 75 cm.
We dug a pit several hundred meters further down the ridgeline in a more representative area. See attached for snowpilot and picture of large chained depth hoar at the ground.
Skied two low angle meadow laps. Continued up towards Hyalite. Consistent whumphing when breaking trail. We dug a pit a bit before the first steep rollover on the way to Hyalite Peak (~9200’). ECTP18, broke 50cm deep where the storm slap interfaced with facets. Total depth 130cm. Consistent beefy storm slab underneath 4-5” of fresh snow once out of the thick trees. Snow so unsupportive we couldn’t walk 15 feet to dig our pit.
we also observed signs of recent natural avalanche activity in Divide Basin
Toured up the Ramp in the Bridger Range. At the top of The Ramp/Wolverine I pushed on some small wind-loaded terrain features with skis. About three inches of soft snow moved/cracked no wider than my ski width, then one step lower a hard slab cracked out about 10' wide, 10-12" deep and did not move more than a few inches downhill due to flatter terrain supporting it below. The slab was pencil hardness which leads me to believe it was older than the last snowfall on Wed-Thurs, but possible it formed during that event if there was a period of moderate-strong wind at the ridge. I had two other terrain-feature sized "whumphs" on similar small wind-loaded slopes directly adjacent. These hard slabs were sitting on sugary facets, and show that avalanches can be triggered on previously wind-loaded slopes. While these were small, a similar size slab on a steeper slope could easily take you for a ride, and larger avalanches are possible on larger wind-loaded slopes.
Warm temps made the recent snow moist and denser, feeling more like a slab, but there was not quite enough recent snow on non-wind loaded slopes to get much cracking or propagation in tests. There were small cracks on the surface, but did not travel beyond shovel or ski width. A pit at 8,300' on a northeast aspect showed a very weak snowpack with generally stable test scores. and we had ECTX and ECTN results, a PST 35/100end at 30cm above the ground, and PST 25/100slab-fracture below the recent snow at 63cm above the ground. Snow depth was 75-85cm.
There were natural rollerballs on most aspects initiated from warm snow falling off trees. Possible recent small-medium slab avalanche (8-12" deep) on the west side, behind the Patrol lift, but didn't get a great look. There were rollerballs on that slope which may have triggered a slab?
Temperatures were above freezing and it was raining below 8,000' at 10am. Snowing above 8000' briefly, accumulated to 1cm. Calm wind. Partly sunny by mid-afternoon. Skins were glopping bad off the heavily used skin tracks, and moist snow surface will become a melt-freeze crust on most aspects, possibly with the exception of a few slopes at the highest elevations.
