18-19

<p>The mountains are blanketed in white and some folks are out searching for turns. A few more inches of snow this weekend will improve conditions, but snow isn’t deeper than one or two feet in most locations. If it is deep enough to make turns then there is enough snow to avalanche. Avalanches have caught and injured skiers, hunters, and climbers during the early-season before. Travel and prepare for avalanches like you would in the middle of winter.</p>

<ul>
<li>Equip yourself with all the tools you normally travel with mid-winter: beacon, shovel and probe at a minimum. Helmets are a good idea with thin coverage in runout zones.</li>
<li>Avoid steep slopes with thick drifts of snow. These slopes are the most inviting because they have full coverage for skiing, but they are also the likeliest area to trigger a slide.</li>
<li>Travel one at a time in avalanche terrain.</li>
<li>Small avalanches can be season-ending affairs at best and deadly at their worst. Be careful of getting swept into rocks or buried deeply in gullies or carried off cliffs. All of these have occurred early season in Montana.</li>
<li>Cracking and collapsing of the snow is bulls-eye information that the snow is unstable. The snowpack is usually the most unstable during and immediately after new snow and wind.</li>
</ul>

<p>Here are a couple things you can do to prepare yourself for a safe winter in the backcountry. Read <u><strong><a href="http://www.mtavalanche.com/accident/12/10/31">this accident report</a></strong></u> from October 2012 in the northern Bridger Range, and plan to attend one of our avalanche education courses listed <u><strong><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/workshops/calendar">HERE</a></strong></u>.<…;

<p>We are preparing for winter, scheduling avalanche classes, and setting up weather stations. If you get outside send us an observation via our website, email (<u><a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com">mtavalanche@gmail.com</a></u&gt;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>