18-19

A snowmobiler triggered this slide in the 3rd Yellowmule of Buck Ridge on Monday (12/31). It was an east facing slope.

From an email:

"...observed lots of natural avalanches in Beehive Basin today. My partner counted 12+ including this one... All avalanche activity was on E or NE slopes which had been hammered by the winds. We found soft, more stable (ECTX) snow on SE aspects, although still found the bottom 2’ of snowpack to be rotted into <1mm facets, resting below the fresh 2’ slabs. Not reactive in our tests but there was lots of collapsing and this layer will become an issue with a heavier, more cohesive load."

From the Yellowstone Club Ski Patrol, " ...we noted 2 natural avalanches along one of our roads. They both are at about 7000ft and had a relatively shallow snowpack. The crowns were roughly 2ft in depth and ran on facets near the ground. One slide looks like it released during the yesterday’s storm and the other appears to have gone either overnight or this morning. Patrollers also spotted a natural avalanche outside of the ski area boundary in the Eglise Bowl. The photo was taken from a distance but the aspect is NE and the elevation is around 8500ft." Photo: YCSP

From an email:

"Today we skied on the southeast end of Scotch Bonnet. We saw some naturals further west (the Rasta chutes) and on some of the other big features of the region (on sheep west face and the peak just south of lulu pass). All on scotch bonnet appeared to be involving storm snow though the further ones could have involved deeper layers."