On 5/4/24 Skiers triggered large wet loose slides on the Fin near Cooke City
Trip Planning for Southern Gallatin
Primary Problem: None
Bottom Line: Spring weather can be highly variable and create a mix of avalanche problems to watch out for. Snow conditions and snow stability can change drastically from day to day or hour to hour. Anticipate rapid change and plan accordingly. Plenty of snowfall over the winter with more spring snow to come makes avalanches possible into summer.Past 5 Days
Fri Apr 19
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None
Mon Apr 22
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Fri Apr 26
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Mon Apr 29
None
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Thu May 2
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Relevant Avalanche Activity
Cooke City
Republic Mountain
Skier triggered large Wet loose on the fin
Republic Mountain
L-ASu-R2-D2-I
Elevation: 10,000
Aspect: E
Coordinates: 45.0003, -109.9540
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
More Avalanche Details
L-ASu-R2-D2-I
Elevation: 10,000
Aspect: E
Coordinates: 45.0003, -109.9540
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
From obs.: “Our party (3) triggered a significant wet loose slide on the fin today. I, the first skier dropped in next to existing tracks from earlier in the morning. I made a couple of small turns in unskied snow to test it and decided that not much was moving. As I continued down the wet surface snow started to slide and accumulate. My partner called me on the radio to tell me a lot of snow was moving behind me and I cut left. I traversed hard to lower angle terrain until I felt I could safely descend the rest of the slope. My partners descended the bed surface until they could traverse out.
We made several key mistakes today. We knew it would be warm and that we should be up and down early. We left later than planned, moved slower than expected and failed to adjust our plan. We mistook lack of wet loose activity on similar aspects and elevations on features we could see as sign of stability. We failed to make a plan B or establish a turnaround time. We interpreted a party ahead of us that skied the slope as a go ahead. Another party approaching behind us added pressure to go. They also skied the slope after us in similar style to my partners.
In our favor, we communicated well, radios were key, stayed calm and we managed ourselves through the situation. I feel humbled and lucky to have gotten away with a free lesson. One that I didn't think I should have needed.”
More Avalanche Details
Relevant Photos
Displaying 1 - 19
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Saw what looked like a wet slab avalanche from the road along the Madison River. Roughly north facing slope at 7500'.
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Skiers a few days ago saw several deep natural avalanches near the head of Swan Creek. These avalanches broke 2-5' deep, 2000' wide, and ran "full track". The exact date of when these avalanches happened is unknown but they likely happened over a week ago in the first few days of March. Photo: S. Reinsel
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Skiers a few days ago saw several deep natural avalanches near the head of Swan Creek. These avalanches broke 2-5' deep, 2000' wide, and ran "full track". The exact date of when these avalanches happened is unknown but they likely happened over a week ago in the first few days of March. Photo: S. Reinsel
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Riders saw a large crack in the snow near the Cabin Creek Cabin in the S. Madison Range. This is a red flag for unstable conditions. Anonymous
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Photo and observation from 01/20
From obs: "Large roller balls were observed in avalanche terrain on a SE aspect at 8,300'. Alongside this observation, rather wet, sticky snow was observed throughout the tour, causing multiple glopping incidents on our skins." Photo: E. Webb
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Skiers on 01/20 saw a natural avalanche that happened the day before on 01/19. Photo: E. Webb
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From observations on 01/20:
Shooting cracks above a cornice that created a small avalanche. Photo: D. Halama
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From observation on 01/20:
While approaching a cornice skiers collapsed the slope and triggered a small cornice. Photo: E. Webb
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A small avalanche was seen in Black Bear Canyon on 01/14. This was a recent avalanche that happened today or yesterday 01/13.
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Cracking at Fawn Pass this was accompanied by multiple collapses during the tour. Photo: S. Reinsel
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Large surface near Little Bear. Photo: JR Mooney
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From IG on 12/10: "2 slides we triggered remotely in tepee yesterday"
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From obs: "Dug into the hillside right before going up the creek. Snow pack was 75 cm deep consisting of three layers. Bottom 35cm is obviously faceted, grain size is around 2mm. Very thin ice crust at around 35cm. Upper 35 cm of snow is brand new snow from this current storm, precipitation particles, low density, with minor wind effect. Performed a quick Compression Test and the ice crust layer failed on the second tap." Photo: S. Gralla
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From IG: “Pine creek today, some small wind slabs and a full depth wet slide off black mountain”
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From IG: “Pine creek today (10/21), some small wind slabs and a full depth wet slide off black mountain”
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From obs. "Was out alpine climbing today and observed the north face of Blackmore had slid already."
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Extended Forecast for17 Miles SE Big Sky MT
This Afternoon
High: 48 °F
Showers
LikelyTonight
Low: 32 °F
Chance
T-storms then
Mostly CloudyWednesday
High: 58 °F
Mostly Sunny
Wednesday Night
Low: 35 °F
Partly Cloudy
Thursday
High: 63 °F
Mostly Sunny
then Chance
Showers and
BreezyThursday Night
Low: 39 °F
Slight Chance
T-storms and
Breezy then
Mostly ClearFriday
High: 61 °F
Sunny and
Breezy then
Chance
Showers and
WindyFriday Night
Low: 29 °F
Chance
Rain/Snow and
BreezySaturday
High: 52 °F
Slight Chance
Snow Showers
then Chance
Rain/Snow and
Breezy
The Last Word
We began daily forecasts on December 7. 130 daily forecasts and 464 reported avalanches later, we wrapped up our daily forecasting season on April 14th. Read our SEASON SUMMARY to look back at the 2023-24 avalanche forecasting season.
Thank you to everyone that sent in observations, read the advisories, took an avalanche class, or donated money, time or gear. Our success is directly related to support from the community and the Forest Service. Have a safe spring and summer!