Photos

From email, "I think this natural avalanche happened about 24-48 hours ago.  (pretty sure it wasn't there 2-3 days ago?). It's an E, SE aspect, about 9200', between Cooke City and Silver Gate." B Fredlund

From IG. “I spotted a large crown this morning on the E face of Bole. The crown appeared to be pretty deep, at least a few feet, and propagated quite wide. It also looked like there was a debris path coming down the apron of the E face of Hyalite peak, but I was too far away to know for sure.” N. Sramek

From 2/26/23: "Today we toured to a ridge across from the west face of Republic Mountain. We observed multiple natural avalanches on several aspects. Winds were calm until around noon, and then picked up in the afternoon and were heavily loading north aspects at this location." Photo: E. Schreier 

"On Saturday (2/25/23)... On the southwest ridge of Mineral Mountain we observed a large slide, approximately 200ft wide, that appeared to trigger another slide lower down on the slope." Photo: E. Schreier

Possible remote trigger by wildlife

Photo: B. Fredlund 2/26/23

From 2/26/23: "Today we toured to a ridge across from the west face of Republic Mountain. We observed multiple natural avalanches on several aspects. Winds were calm until around noon, and then picked up in the afternoon and were heavily loading north aspects at this location." Photo: E. Schreier

From obs 2/26/23: "We triggered and were caught in an avalanche very near town.  We skied the east side of Miller,  dropped down to descend the very eastern slope just above town. While standing on approximately a 30-35 degree slope we experienced a release immediately above us.  The crown line was approximately 18-24" and extended appx 50' across. We were caught for about 150' before coming to a stop and buried to the thigh. The entire slide was appx 400' from top to bottom.  It was appx a D2." 

From obs 2/26/23: "We triggered and were caught in an avalanche very near town.  We skied the east side of Miller,  dropped down to descend the very eastern slope just above town. While standing on approximately a 30-35 degree slope we experienced a release immediately above us.  The crown line was approximately 18-24" and extended appx 50' across. We were caught for about 150' before coming to a stop and buried to the thigh. The entire slide was appx 400' from top to bottom.  It was appx a D2." 

From obs 2/26/23: "We triggered and were caught in an avalanche very near town.  We skied the east side of Miller,  dropped down to descend the very eastern slope just above town. While standing on approximately a 30-35 degree slope we experienced a release immediately above us.  The crown line was approximately 18-24" and extended appx 50' across. We were caught for about 150' before coming to a stop and buried to the thigh. The entire slide was appx 400' from top to bottom.  It was appx a D2." 

From obs 2/26/23: "We triggered and were caught in an avalanche very near town.  We skied the east side of Miller,  dropped down to descend the very eastern slope just above town. While standing on approximately a 30-35 degree slope we experienced a release immediately above us.  The crown line was approximately 18-24" and extended appx 50' across. We were caught for about 150' before coming to a stop and buried to the thigh. The entire slide was appx 400' from top to bottom.  It was appx a D2." 

A rider observed recent avalanches on wind-loaded slopes near Lionhead on 2/25/23. Photo: K. Allred

Photo: taken from Cody Enterprise

From IG message 2/25/23: "Hey just wanted to report a Cooke city avalanche from today. Happened at 3pm caused by a skier coming down a south facing slope above Round Lake. Everyone was fine, he lost his skis and everyone learned"

This natural avalanche was seen today on E. Henderson Bench. Photo: B. Zavora

A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.

Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.

A big thanks to Dan Wykoff and Ben Zavora for providing the story and pictures.

Photo: B. Zavora

A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.

Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.

A big thanks to Dan Wykoff and Ben Zavora for providing the story and pictures.

Photo: B. Zavora

A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.

Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.

A big thanks to Dan Wykoff and Ben Zavora for providing the story and pictures.

Photo: B. Zavora

A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.

Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.

A big thanks to Dan Wykoff for providing the story and pictures.

Photo: D. Wykoff

A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.

Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.

A big thanks to Dan Wykoff for providing the story and pictures.

Photo: D. Wykoff