From obs: "Looks like a natural slide on the SW face of Crown Butte/ Bull of the Woods pass. Spoke with some skiers that thought it slide morning of 01/25/2024." Photo: D. Green
More avalanche activity seen in Cooke City. This avalanche is fairly recent and likely happened yesterday 01/25. Slide right off groomed trail near Chimney Rock Photo: D. Green
I believe this occurred either Wednesday Jan 24th or Tuesday Jan 23rd
Rode along Lionhead Ridge from Denny Creek to Watkins Creek and around into the head of Targhee Creek. Saw dozens of avalanches that broke within the last week. Most of the slides looked to have broken early this week with a couple looking like they broke in the last 24 hours. Slides broke on all aspects, both above treeline and well below treeline, and on both wind-loaded and nonwind-loaded slopes. Some looked to be naturals and some looked to have been rider triggered. One of the slides in Watkins Creek broke across three avalanche paths/gully features and was one of the larger slides we've seen this season, looking to have piled up debris 10+ ft deep. All these slides looked to have broken on one of the December surface hoar layers at the top of the early season facets.
Dug a pit adjacent to one of the slides in Targhee Creek and got an ECTP13 on the lower of two well defined surface hoar layers.
Riding today it was quite dramatic how much stiffer the slab is than it was the 10 days ago. Instead of just trenching through the whole snowpack you now mostly ride on top until you dramatically break though. We got a couple of shooting cracks while approaching our snowpit site, but they were not nearly as dramatic as the cracks last week.
Slide right off groomed trail near Chimney Rock
Looks like a natural slide on the SW face of Crown Butte/ Bull of the Woods pass. Spoke with some skiers that thought it slide morning of 01/25/2024.
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>If you get on or near a steep slope today, you are likely to trigger a slide. We’ve let the avalanche warning in Island Park expire and the danger has dropped from high to considerable for the first time in a week in the other southern ranges, but don’t for a minute think this means conditions are safe. Skiers and riders across the advisory area continue to trigger avalanches from a distance and have widespread collapses and shooting cracks. The snowpack is unusually and remarkably weak - even the small amounts of snow that have fallen over the last week have kept it teetering on the edge. It’s been three weeks since the last day without reported avalanches or signs of instability (see the </span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/weather/wx-avalanche-log"><span><span><span… and avalanche log</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span> for the full list). </span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Some recent highlights include a slide reported yesterday that was likely skier triggered low on Saddle Peak (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/30261"><span><span><span><strong><span…;), riders in Tepee Basin having cracks shoot out 100 ft in front of them while sidehilling a low angled slope (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/30269"><span><span><span><strong><span…;), and skiers remotely triggering avalanches multiple days in a row near Cooke City (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/30267"><span><span><span><strong><span…;).</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Slides are still being triggered from hundreds of feet away (</span></span></span></span></span></span><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/30257"><span><span><span><span><span><… Creek remote trigger</span></span></u></span></span></span></span></span></a><span><span><span><span><span><span>). This means you really need to be cautious even traveling near steep slopes. Simply avoid all slopes steeper than 30 degrees and also be very careful crossing beneath those slopes as well in case you trigger a slide above you.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Human triggered avalanches are likely and the avalanche danger is CONSIDERABLE.</span></span></span></span></span></span></p>
Our education calendar is full of awareness lectures and field courses. Check it out: Events and Education Calendar.
From email: "
I did not get a good photo but yesterday (01/24) skiing out of the yurt with friends noticed a large natural on the NorthEast facing bowl on Sheep Mountain. Similar size to the Henderson slide if not a little larger.
~300 ft. crown and ran a similar distance (300-400ft?)"
