On a tour up Middle Peak, I saw recent avalanches, with large propagation in Middle Basin and Beehive Basin.
We rode from Battle Ridge into the base of the Throne, dug a pit low on the East Face, climbed to the ridge, dug a south facing pit and skied down via the East Face. Neither pit had any dramatic results, with ECTN26 and ECTX on the lower weak layers.
Downhill winds were drifting a good bit of snow at lower elevations. We mostly found stripped slopes and wind effect, but did find a few deeper drifts. There was a small and thin avalanche low on the east face that looks to have pulled out with this downhill wind loading. Approximately 25 ft x 25 ft vertical and ~6" deep.
No other avalanches observation. No cracking or collapse.
Shot from ~20 miles away, 3/8. Also looks to be a significant debris field in Frazier off The Hollywood. Bob ps. maybe a better pic
Skinned to the top of big Ellis completing 2 ECTs along the way. The first pit was at an elevation of 7946 feet, north of the burn, east aspect, exposed to the sky/not shaded. Snow depth 100cm. 2 buried crust layers, ECTNR. We did get the column to fracture below the lower crust layer by prying on it after the ECT test. The hardness of the faceted snow at the ground was 4 fingers trending to 1 finger. The second pit was completed at an elevation of 8209 feet, top of the burn, east aspect, exposed to the sky. Snow depth 120 cm, 2 buried crust layers, ECTNR. The column failed at the ground post ECT via the same prying as previous column. Hardness of the faceted snow at the ground was 4 fingers. We experienced no signs of instability during the day. The skiing was good. There were a few old ski tracks, partially buried by recent snow.
Shot from ~20 miles away, 3/8. Also looks to be a significant debris field in Frazier off The Hollywood. Bob
03/07 - observed several crowns on Republic from Town Hill, likely from 03/06. Ray's had a slide on its west end which appeared to be isolated from the large avalanche that was filmed on the shoulder/Ray's. We saw up to 4 other crowns in Republic bowl on NE, N, and NW aspects including one that broke on the NE facing spines looker's left of the Fin that got legs and ran into the trees out of site (R1-D2?).
One note - while all of these slides, including the large one already reported on the shoulder were on northerly aspects, the majority of the trigger points appeared to be small, steep, thin, NE facing features. We surprisingly woke up to clear skies early on 03/06 and I wonder how much of an impact solar may have played. Other faces and features in the area that are strictly north facing or otherwise protected from the sun didn't appear to be sliding naturally.
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Large human triggered avalanches are likely today. Yesterday, a rider on Henderson Mountain triggered a huge slide that broke more than 10 ft deep and 1000 ft wide (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/31289"><span><span><span><strong><span…;). Take a second and re-read those numbers, then go look at the photos and video to really drive it home. That is a HUGE slide, especially for one that was human triggered. Thankfully, remarkably, the rider wasn’t caught. Many large natural avalanches were seen over the last two days (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKlSUpgh87M"><span><span><span><strong>… video</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/24/large-natural-avalanche-mt-abunda… photo</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/24/cooke-city-recent-avalanche3"><sp…;). We expect more of the same today.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Avoidance is the only reasonable strategy when triggering avalanches is so likely and they are breaking so deep. Stay off all slopes steeper than 30 degrees today. Give them a wide berth and be very cautious crossing beneath them as well. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The avalanche danger is rated CONSIDERABLE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Large avalanches are a very real possibility and getting onto steep slopes requires careful consideration. Yesterday, a rider on Buck Ridge triggered a slide remotely (from a ways away) that broke a couple feet deep (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/24/rider-remote-triggered-slide"><sp…;, </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooiUE1_ccAg"><span><span><span><strong>…;). This clearly demonstrates that triggering big slides remains possible. </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Yesterday, Dave and I rode in the Lionhead area and only saw a couple of deeper avalanches that broke during the last storm (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/31278"><span><span><span><strong><span…;). The snowpack handled the big loading event over the last week better than it has any other time this season. While this makes us cautiously optimistic, it is faint praise in this exceptionally unstable season.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The likelihood of triggering a large slide has decreased slightly. It is no longer as much of a sure thing as it was only a few days ago. However, the general snowpack structure hasn’t significantly changed. The weak snow we’ve been worried about all year is still there at the bottom of the snowpack, it’s still weak, and it’s buried under a few feet (or more) of cohesive slab. That means if you do trigger a slide it will be large and very dangerous.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>For many places it’s been over a month since the avalanche danger was last dropped to MODERATE. Don’t confuse this for meaning conditions are safe today. Think long and hard about the possibility of triggering a big slide like the one that broke in Hyalite last weekend (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/24/arden-peak-slide"><span><span><sp…;) before getting on or beneath any steep slope. If you do decide to enter avalanche terrain, go gradually and start with less steep and smaller slopes.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The avalanche danger is rated MODERATE today.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
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From IG: "Buck ridge south of slatts hill, remote trigger by a snowmobile today"
From IG on 3/7/24: "Buck ridge south of slatts hill, remote trigger by a snowmobile today"
