22-23

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The snowpack is still recovering from a big storm and huge loading event. Two feet of snow fell Wednesday through early Friday morning accompanied by very strong winds. Yesterday, riders saw a number of large natural avalanches along Lionhead Ridge (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/27021"><span><span><span><strong><span…;). The snowpack has now had 24 hours to begin to accommodate the big load load, so we don’t expect natural slides today and have allowed the avalanche warning to expire. However, because there are persistent weak layers buried beneath the new snow, triggering large avalanches remains </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><em><span>likely</span></em></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span> today and it’ll take a bit more time before we can start to actually trust the snowpack (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVQkjFvFnnw&amp;feature=emb_logo"><span…;). The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>As skies cleared yesterday, a number of natural avalanches were seen around Cooke City that broke during the storm (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/27013"><span><span><span><strong><span… and photos</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). The largest of these slides broke 3-4 ft deep, likely on a weak layer that formed last week prior to the storm (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4oOrj6x7oU&amp;list=PLXu5151nmAvTi1DBS…’s video from yesterday</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). With the combination of two feet of storm snow, strong winds to build even thicker slabs, and buried weak layers - human triggered avalanches remain likely today. The avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Six inches to a foot of snow fell over the past few days, accompanied by strong winds to drift it into thicker slabs. These wind drifts are our biggest concern today (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqqdf5N85DM&amp;list=PLXu5151nmAvTi1DBS… Fork video</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). There also are some areas where weak layers were buried beneath the new snow (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/26995"><span><span><span><strong><span… Rind observation</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). It doesn’t appear that these weak layers are widespread, but we still have limited information to confirm this so our confidence is low. Conveniently, the snowpack is still shallow enough that it’ll only take a few minutes to dig down and check for these weak layers before committing to steep slopes. Human triggered avalanches are possible today and the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>

<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>If you get out, please share avalanche, snowpack or weather observations via our</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_obs"><span><span><span><span>…; </span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><u><span><span>website</span></span></u></span></strong></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>, email (</span></span></span></span></span></span><span><span><span><strong><span><span>mtavalanche@gmail.com</span></span></strong></span></span></span><span><span><span><span><span><span>), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>