Numerous wet loose avalanches on the south facing wall of Frazier, many of which appear to have pulled out dry slabs lower in the path as they ran yesterday afternoon (1/29/24). Photo: GNFAC 1/30/24
Driving up Bridger Canyon we saw wet loose avalanche across the whole range that ran yesterday afternoon (1/29). Some of these slides appear to have gouged down to the ground, entraining the whole season's snowpack.
We sledded into Fairy Lake, parked, and skinned up to the ridgeline overlooking Frazier Basin. An older, previously reported slide that broke widely was still visible in October Bowl. There were numerous wet loose avalanches on the south facing wall of Frazier, many of which appear to have pulled out dry slabs lower in the path as they ran yesterday afternoon.
There was a firm refreeze on all slopes this morning. We dug on a NE and SE aspect at 8800 ft and got unstable test results on both aspects (ECTP22 and ECTP12) breaking 1-2 ft deep on the surface hoar/facets from December. The snowpack was 100% dry on the shady slope and only the top 3" was wet on the sunny slope at 1 pm. Was able to push the top couple inches of wet snow downhill on steep rollovers as we descended.
It was ~60 degrees when we returned to the parking lot at 2:30 pm.
Good views today of upper elevation alpine terrain north of Cooke City. Snow remained cold on all aspects will late in the day above 9500'. The exception was steep west and south-facing terrain that had many small point releases. These were multiple loose wet avalanches on the west side of Scotch Bonnet, each of the Rasta Chutes had debris in them and looked recent, probably this afternoon. Just north of the Rastas, we saw a crown of an avalanche, whether that was recent or not was difficult to tell.
Snowmobilers saw multiple loose wet avalanches on the afternoon of 01/30/2024. They also saw the crown of a recent avalanche. Photo: Z. Peterson
Snowmobilers saw multiple loose wet avalanches on the afternoon of 01/30/2024. They also saw the crown of a recent avalanche. Photo: Z. Peterson
Good views today of upper elevation alpine terrain north of Cooke City. Snow remained cold on all aspects will late in the day above 9500'. The exception was steep west and south-facing terrain that had many small point releases. These were multiple loose wet avalanches on the west side of Scotch Bonnet, each of the Rasta Chutes had debris in them and looked recent, probably this afternoon. Just north of the Rastas, we saw a crown of an avalanche, whether that was recent or not was difficult to tell.
These avalanches were seen on 01/30/2024. They likely happened on the close to 01/29/2024 towards the end of a recent storm.
From ob on 01/30/2024: "Over 15 slides spotted on our ride today. Both large and small. Mostly south facing slopes with a large one on a north facing slope. Several hills with visible cracking and ready to let loose."
Update from email on 01/31/2024: "The slides were very fresh i would say happened the day of or day before I saw them. I rode the same area Sunday (no slides noticed but it was raining) as Tuesday (when we noticed an abundance of them)."
