We ski toured in Sheep Creek today, north of Cooke City. Of note, a thin (4mm) rime crust was forming due to the high humidity/ quasi rain. Remarkably the rime crust skied very well. Photo: B. Fredlund
Trip Planning for Cooke City Area
Primary Problem: Persistent Slab
Bottom Line: 4” of new snow and moderate to strong wind yesterday increased the likelihood for a person to trigger a large persistent slab avalanche. While 4” of new snow is fairly small, signs point to a snowpack that should not be trusted with even small changes, and buried weak layers remain easy to collapse in the shallow early season snowpack. Be extra cautious of slopes steeper than 30 degrees and their runout zones below.Past 5 Days
Thu Dec 19
Considerable
Considerable
Fri Dec 20
Considerable
Considerable
Sat Dec 21
Considerable
Considerable
Sun Dec 22
Moderate
Moderate
Today
Considerable
Considerable
Relevant Avalanche Activity
Cooke City
Goose Lake
E Face Mount Fox avalanche
Goose Lake
SS-NC-R2-D2-O
Elevation: 11,000
Aspect: E
Coordinates: 45.1153, -109.9140
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
More Avalanche Details
SS-NC-R2-D2-O
Elevation: 11,000
Aspect: E
Coordinates: 45.1153, -109.9140
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
From email: "Maiden Voyage to Goose Lake for the season today. Lots of wind drifted snow everywhere and challenging riding conditions. Performed Stability test on shoulder of Mount Fox NE facing slope at 10,300'. HS 180cm. ECTP2 40cm down on Buried Surface Hoar. ECTP 23 90cm down on MFcr with 1-2mm Facets. Saw several recent wind slab avalanches in steeper windloaded terrrain around Goose Lake, but limited activity was seen on Henderson. Lots of co/cr while touring on Mount Fox. D2 avalanche on east facing Mount Fox that appears to be on the SH layer, triggered by a cornice drop."
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Cooke City
COOKE CITY
Natural Avalanche Activity, Cooke City
COOKE CITY
SS-N-R3-D2.5-U
Elevation: 10,000
Coordinates: 45.0202, -109.9380
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
More Avalanche Details
SS-N-R3-D2.5-U
Elevation: 10,000
Coordinates: 45.0202, -109.9380
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
Ob1: Photos 1-4, GNFAC
We rode out to Lulu Pass to look at the few avalanches that were reported yesterday on Henderson and Fisher Mtn. Today we did not see any avalanches that weren't previously reported, other than one small, but thick wind slab on south facing slope of Scotch Bonnet (photo). At least the avalanche on Fisher and one on Henderson broke near the ground (pics attached). Some slides were heavily refilled by drifted snow, so it was hard to tell how deep they broke.
Yesterday I saw a wide slab avalanche up on west Woody Ridge from town (photo attached). It happened late on Wednesday or overnight during or after the strong winds and snowfall.
Ob 2: B Fredlund, Photos 5-13
Quite a few natural avalanches observed north of Cooke City today. Photos attached of:
5: NE facing, 10,000, Miller Ridge
6: E facing, 9900', Bull of the Woods Pass
7: NE facing, 9700', Miller Ridge
8: E facing, 10,200' Scotch Bonnet Mtn.
9: E facing, 10,000 Mt. Henderson
10-12: NE- N facing, 10,000' Mt. Henderson
13: NE facing, 10,000' Sheep Creek.
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Cooke City
Woody Ridge
Wind Slabs near Cooke City
Woody Ridge
Aspect: W
Coordinates: 44.9739, -109.9240
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
More Avalanche Details
Aspect: W
Coordinates: 44.9739, -109.9240
Caught: 0 ; Buried: 0
Lots of wind slabs south of Cooke today. Strong wind all day and lots of blowing snow.
More Avalanche Details
Relevant Photos
Displaying 1 - 40
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We experienced several collapses and had propagation in multiple ECTs performed. HS varies between 85-105cm. Photo from 9940
Photo: BMG
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Photo: BMG
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I saw a wide slab avalanche up on west Woody Ridge from town. It happened late on Wednesday or overnight during or after the strong winds and snowfall. Photo: GNFAC
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Wind slab avalanche near Lulu Pass. Photo: GNFAC
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Large persistant slab avalanche on Henderson. Photo: GNFAC
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Persistant slab avalanche on Fisher that broke near the ground. Photo: GNFAC
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D2 avalanche on east facing Mount Fox that appears to be on the SH layer, triggered by a cornice drop.
Photo: B Zavora
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NE facing, 10,000' Sheep Creek.
Photo: B Fredlund
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NE- N facing, 10,000' Mt. Henderson
Photo: B Fredlund
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NE- N facing, 10,000' Mt. Henderson
Photo: B Fredlund
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NE- N facing, 10,000' Mt. Henderson
Photo: B Fredlund
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E facing, 10,000 Mt. Henderson
Photo: B Fredlund
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E facing, 10,200' Scotch Bonnet Mtn.
Photo: B Fredlund
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NE facing, 9700', Miller Ridge
Photo: B Fredlund
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E facing, 9900', Bull of the Woods Pass
Photo: B Fredlund
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Natural avalanche, NE facing, 10,000, Miller Ridge
Photo: B Fredlund
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Lots of wind slabs south of Cooke today. Strong wind all day and lots of blowing snow. Photo: N Mattes
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Plumes of drifting snow in the Bridger Range as strong winds blasted the mountains. Photo: GNFAC
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The clouds broke briefly around noon on Tuesday in Cooke City. Two sections of the face on the Fin slid, one from the top, and one lower and to the right. Photo: N. Mattes
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Winds drifted snow below cornices and into gullies on Miller Ridge north of Cooke City. Photo: GNFAC
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Winds drifted snow below cornices and along ridgelines on Henderson Mountain in Cooke City. Photo: GNFAC
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From IG: On 12/15 "Storm slab broke about 200’ above us as skinning up the hallway coming from the north side on the throne." Photo: Anonymous
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It broke on a convex rollover about 100 ft wide and ran about 80 ft. downslope. The crown averaged 30 inches and broke on sugary facets about 18 inches from the ground. Photo: Anonymous
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It broke on a convex rollover about 100 ft wide and ran about 80 ft. downslope. The crown averaged 30 inches and broke on sugary facets about 18 inches from the ground. Photo: Anonymous
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Found preserved buried surface hoar approximately 15-20cms below the snow surface.
Photo: Beartooth Mountain Guides
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Gusty winds transporting snow in Taylor Fork on Saturday. Triggered a 4-5 inch deep wind slab that propagated about 50 ft at the top of a north east facing slope at 9,500 ft.
Photo: JP
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Photo: Anonymous
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Surface hoar stripe in snowpit near Cooke.
Photo: GNFAC
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We skied near Lulu Pass and dug a pit on a northeast facing slope at 9,500'. There was 6-8" of low density new snow on top of a thick layer of surface hoar (10-16mm, photos attached). Photo: GNFAC
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Noticed this natural avalanche on 12/8. East facing slope, ~9500 feet, Hayden Creek above Ripcurl area. Photo: J. Mundt
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Snowpack on Henderson Bench on NE facing slope
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Wet Loose avalanche at Lulu on South facing slope
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Old wind slab avalanche on Henderson that likely failed on old facets near the ground after heavy wind loading. NE facing at about 10,100 ft.
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1cm surf hoar at Lulu
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"At 9410ft, NNW aspect, 10 degree slope, we found HS 75cm. The general structure seems right side up. There are facets at the bottom 20cm or so, but they are wet, and seem to be rounding. An ECT gave us ECTN20 at 40cm down." Photo: N. Mattes
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WE facing snow at 8100 ft Cabin Ck
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SE facing snow Cabin Creek
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N facing snow Cabin Creek, 9000 ft
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Big Sky Ski Patrol triggered this avalanche during mitigation work in The Wave on 11/26/24... "2-3' deep on an ice crust just above the ground with a 2# shot in the Upper rodeo. Volume was limited as most of the snow was loaded just underneath the cornice, but still produced a sizeable size 2... Other paths in the Lenin region ran meaty wind slabs, full track with no significant step downs." Photo: BSSP
Videos- Cooke City Area
WebCams
Soda Butte Lodge, looking West
Soda Butte Lodge, looking East
Weather Stations- Cooke City Area
Weather Forecast Cooke City Area
Extended Forecast for2 Miles NNE Cooke City MT
Tonight
Low: 20 °F
Isolated Snow
Showers then
Mostly CloudyTuesday
High: 38 °F
Increasing
CloudsTuesday Night
Low: 24 °F
Snow Showers
LikelyChristmas Day
High: 30 °F
Snow Likely
then Partly
SunnyWednesday Night
Low: 18 °F
Mostly Cloudy
Thursday
High: 24 °F
Snow Likely
Thursday Night
Low: 22 °F
Chance Snow
Friday
High: 25 °F
Snow Likely
Friday Night
Low: 22 °F
Snow Likely