Snow Observations List

We rode below Lionhead Ridge via Denny Creek and found a snowpack with the worst structure we've seen in our forecast area. There was around 3 feet of snow on the ground between 8000-9000'. The bottom foot was sugary weak facets, and the upper snowpack was a supportable hard slab with new snow on top (profile attached). 

We had two large collapses. The most significant collapse happened when we were leaving our snowpit and walking back to our sleds a few feet away. We heard a long "whumph" sound and saw our snowmobiles drop an inch, as the snowpack on the entire slope around us collapsed. Our snowpit had ECTP23 x2 breaking on the sugary weak layer.

We saw 4-5 avalanche crowns that were up to a week old, some had been reported and a few we had not heard of (3 pictured were previously not reported to my knowledge). One was a 3-4'+thick slab on a rocky heavily wind-loaded slope off Lionhead ridge, and the other two were ~2' deep on less wind affected slopes lower down in the trees, but probably had some previous wind-loading.

Despite no fresh avalanches the last few days, the poor structure and collapses suggest a person could easily trigger a large avalanche that breaks wide on the weak layers at the bottom of the snowpack.

There was evidence of recent winds in the meadows with thick drifts felt while riding and some ridges scoured free of recent snow. Skies were mostly clear and wind was calm today.

Headed out to the throne today. Had light to moderate winds from the west blowing all day long at all elevations. Found heavily wind affected skiing in open meadows and softer snow in the trees. Stayed out of avalanche terrain and found no signs of instability. Snow was visibly being transported all day.

Toured into the basin NE of Ross Peak this afternoon.

Snow depth in the basin was 115cm. Winds predominantly from the SW.

Light to moderate snowfall throughout the afternoon.

No avalanche activity noted, but much of the ridge line was obscured by clouds. 

No collapsing or crack propagation seen.

Observed a large avalanche on a west facing slope approx 10000ft, with a higher crown at 10200'. Crown depth 4-6'. HS-Ns-D2-R2-O . Ran 1000ft and into terrain I had previously considered safe.

Toured up Sheep Creek Trail on the West side of the Lionhead Range on 1/11/2025. We heard whoomphing through out our tour in. We stopped counting after 12. Some of these whoomphs seemed relatively far away and very loud. We could not tell if these farther whoomphs were triggered by us. We were the only ones in our location but we did hear snowmobiles in another location near the trailhead. We also felt multiple large collapses on very low angle slopes and skinning across non consequential terrain. 

We dug a pit on an East facing aspect below the slope we had planned to ride. The height of snow was about 110 cm and there was a very concerning layer of large facets at 75cm deep going to the ground. There were no other layers of concern in the snowpack we found and the rest of the snowpack was right side up. Our results were CT17 SPQ2 and ECTP26 SCQ1. Bother failures during tests were on the layer of facets and on the CT and ECT our columns easily separated from the facet layer after failure. Due to these observations we opted not to ride our objective and followed our skin track back out to the trailhead. 

3x ECTX on NE facing 7,400ft. 15cm of new storm snow. Moderate SW winds with strong gusts. S2 from 11am -1pm, S1 snowfall beginning as we exited the field (1530). Blowing snow observed throughout the day. 

A few dry loose avalanches on Climax, plus two small crowns. One was older and drifted in. The other was a small, recent wind slab.

Overnight it snowed 8 inches of low density at the yurt, and an additional 3 inches today. 
No avalanches or cr, co observed. Wind loading observed multiple aspects NTL. 

A wind slab avalanche was seen just below Two Top. This appeared to be a natural slide although tracks can be seen above and to the left of the crown. This was on a northeast facing slope that was wind loaded. The avalanche appeared to be fresh after recent snow. 

Was out with an avalanche class today, strong, swirling mid mountain winds and boottop new snow. 

Our group got a small test slope to slide a small pocket of recent wind slab, then dug on an ENE aspect near the top of Bradley's HS 200cm, ETCP28 on that same fresh windslab down 25cm. That area was heavily wind effected from earlier this week. 

Around the corner on a more scoured ESE aspect HS 80-90cm the snowpack had 2-3mm wet facets at the ground, ECTP24 10cm off the ground failing in facets. 

Skiing was variable, but much improved from yesterday's breakable wind crust!

Probably already reported...but touchy storm slabs on Mt Blackmore. Attached is a photo of a natural from the approach, at the switchbacks to the upper basin.

Saw a fairly large (could bury a person) slide while heading up to ski on mt Blackmore. It was on a north aspect at around 8700 ft. It seemed to have failed in the recent storm snow, some wind may have made the slab a little thicker. The debris covered a portion of yesterday’s ski track. Higher in the bowl we found unstable snow around ridge lines, with several small loose sluffs coming down. 

Recent natural avalanche: on an easterly aspect around 9200', on Hardscrabble Peak in the northern Bridgers.

The main story from today was increased wind this morning and intermittently throughout the day. The moderate winds were actively blowing snow out of trees and over ridgelines, drifting snow into thick deposits, and there was evidence that wind had been active at high elevations (>9500'?) the last couple days. Today, winds strong enough to move snow started to reach all elevations. On Henderson bench we noted many thick, dense drifts while riding, and could see the snow surface textured from the wind up higher.

We looked at two 4-6' deep persistent slab avalanches that were reported yesterday on the east side of Henderson Mtn., which likely happened yesterday. Wind-loading was the likely trigger. There were not tracks near the larger one above the bench, where riders could easily get to, but they could have been filled in. The other slide was below the highest point below a cornice and likely natural. Both looked like they broke on facets at the bottom of the snowpack.

We dug a pit on Henderson Bench on a northeast facing slope, and one on Scotch Bonnet on a south facing slope (profiles attached). Both showed a 4' thick strong slab on weaker, faceted snow at the base. The weak layers are not terribly weak and didn't produce concerning test scores, so they may get better when they get a break from snowfall and wind-loading, but for now recent avalanches show these layers are weak enough and will produce more big avalanches as snowfall and wind continue.

Recent avalanches are clear evidence that the weak layers 1-2 feet above the ground are close to their breaking point. Continued snow and wind this weekend will make more of these big avalanches likely. Fresh drifts are also large due to all the recent snow that is being easily transported into slabs, and pose a significant hazard on their own.

Wind slabs were the issue today. A lot had changed since Thursday when it was all sunshine and deep powder. Winds picked up and changed the landscape.

We found two small wind slabs that had released on their own, then watched a big one release froM a falling cornice, then triggered a small one (expected). 

Overall, winds were the perfect speeds for moving snow which they did all day. Looking south, there was a massive plume coming off Mt Bole.

Side note - temps in the trees were mostly hovering just above freezing. Lots of tree bombs dropping. The snow surface was a little damp by afternoon. Up high, the powder was still great where winds hadn't touched it. 

Avalanche Activity

We spotted 6-7 storm slabs that failed about 8-10 inches deep. There were 3 on the East face Blackmore, 1 on the north face, 1 on north facing flank, and 1 notable one in a steep below treeline cirque ENE facing (this one broke ~400 ft wide). A possible 7th was down the Fox creek drainage. It seemed a bit random where they happened and didn't. They likely occurred sometime late yesterday afternoon during snowfall and high winds. This instability should be mostly stabilized by tomorrow.

We didn't see any avalanches that broke deeper in the snowpack

Other signs of instability 

no collapsing or cracking

Skiing/riding quality 

5 star deep powder and hard trailbreaking, aka trenchtown

Snowpack

We had limited time and only dug one snowpit (attached profile image). We'd like to go back and poke around in some shallow rocky areas. Pit attached. General impression is that it is very deep, and mostly strong. The Shower Falls SNOTEL is at 124% of median swe.

Early December facets have gained a lot of strength, and stability is moving in the right direction. With so much new snow (and more coming Friday/Saturday), I worry about finding a trigger point in a thinner area and then causing an avalanche to break widely into deeper areas. After the Fri/Sat storm if no more snow or wind come for a little bit of time, stability should improve very quickly

Note

The photo of snow on the sign post really shows how snowfall has been steady, slow, and non-stop. My hunch is that initially snow piled up on top of the post. Then it began to sag (or creep) to one side but slowly enough to not break. With each storm a little more snow was added and the pile of snow crept more to the side. Cool.

Went snowmobiling north of Cooke City today near Round Lake. I saw about 20cm of new snow. I also saw some avalanches. There were a couple on E Henderson, one that I think happened today, a few on E Sheep Mountain, some shallower avalanches, and plenty of loose dry snow moving around in the steeps. Here are some photos. Some looked like they were from today, some are older. Lots of evidence of wind from the past day or so. 

The wind yesterday did a number on the snowpack. All aspects and elevations were affected. The most noticeable problem was the large drifts that formed across the landscape. They were not touchy, but if one popped off, it would carry a lot of volume. The secondary problem caught me by surprise. We stopped and dug on a NE facing slope around 7,800 ft. - north of Texas Meadow. HS was roughly 150 cm's. The wind slab on the upper portion of the snowpack did not produce unstable test results but got 2 ECTP's on the basal facets. 

We spent the last two days in the Centennials. On Wednesday, we rode up to the vehicle shop, into Yale drainage, over to Hellroaring, and across the backside to the East Hotel Creek overlook. On Thursday, we went to our weather stations for repairs and visualized much of the range from the top of Sawtelle. 

Day one focused on snowpack analysis as it was lightly snowing for most of the day S- -1 with 2-3" of accumulation throughout the day, and we did not have much for long-distance visibility. We triggered two collapses in a creek bed when someone (I) was stuck while riding toward East Hotel. We were able to see the smaller avalanche paths along Yale and the only slide was a R1, D1 cornice collapse. We dug on a north-facing slope at the pass over to Hellroaring Creek. The facet layer of concern is now buried a meter deep (4F+ hardness) with an ECTX on this layer. Total HS of 155 cm. We got ECTNs 14-29 on the three rain crust layers formed during the last storm cycle.

The south-facing pit overlooking East Hotel was a bit shallower, 125 cm HS. ECTP30 on a crust facet combo mid-snowpack and an extra-curricular ECTP31 on the facets that we have been primarily discussing this season. 

On day two, we got up high, overlooked many avalanche paths, and saw only the slide that Randy Gravett (Rescue Randy) had previously reported in Mt. Jefferson Bowl. 

The collapse and the snowpack structure indicate the potential of triggering an avalanche, but the likelihood has gone down. Given the depth of the weak layers, I am not confident that the snowpack assessment will provide full and accurate information. If folks are starting to push into avalanche terrain, my emphasis is to stick to paths that are less likely to avalanche (sheltered from the wind and less steep) and paths that have lower consequences (smaller slopes with clean runouts). As always, safe travel practices. 

If people don't want to mess with the uncertainty of avalanche terrain right now, conditions are fantastic on many slopes less than 30 degrees. 

Ian and I rode north of Cooke City, had good visibility, and saw terrain from Daisy Pass to Mt. Abundance back to Lulu Pass, around the south side of Scotch Bonnet, then back around the north side of Sheep Mtn. to Round Lake.

We saw many avalanches of various types and ages. Some occurred today and within the last 24 hours and some were up to a week old. Avalanche types ranged from 3-6' deep and broke on weak layers near the bottom of the snowpack to shallow soft, fresh wind slabs, and we saw one 3-4' deep slide that looked like it broke within recent new and wind-drifted snow (photo attached, north end of Henderson). 

The most notable avalanches were 2-3 slides that happened today:

1) When we rode away from our snowpit on Mt. Abundance we saw a fresh 3'deep x 10' wide slide that we might have remote triggered from the flat ridge above (photo attached). 2) About 45 minutes later, from a couple miles away, we saw a 4-6' deep avalanche that happened since we had been there, about 1000' up the ridge from our snowpit (photo). This slide was either natural or remote triggered by riders about 1000' away who were there after we were. 3) An avalanche on the south end of Henderson Bench that looked fresh and someone else thought happened today. This one was 6' deep and broke at the bottom of the snowpack.

There was also a very large avalanche on the north side of Fisher Mtn. that happened at some time in the last week (could have been 48 hours to a week old), regardless of timing, this slide further shows the deeper weak layers are a real problem as snowfall continues to adds weight to the snowpack.

Our snowpit produced an ECTX and had 4' of snow above a layer of surface hoar buried one foot off the ground with facets below.