18-19

<p>In the southern mountains the snowfall continues and so does the Avalanche Warning. The snow just keeps stacking up, day after day. As a rule of thumb, 1” of <u><a href="https://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/or/snow/?cid=nrcs142p2… water equivalent</a></u> (SWE) equals a foot of snow. The Lionhead area has gotten almost 6” of SWE in 4 days, 3.5” in Taylor Fork and over 4” outside Cooke City. This is a heavy load, especially given the poor snow structure of weak faceted snow near the ground. Yesterday, Eric and I toured into Bacon Rind and had a large collapse and poor stability test scores. We skied our skin track out. On Saturday, Eric and Alex made a <strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW2xrOl76-Q&amp;t=0s&amp;index=2&amp;li…; near Lionhead showing the poor snow structure and avalanche potential. Stay out of avalanche terrain today. That includes traveling <em>below </em>open slopes. Many have died traversing underneath steep terrain. I expect numerous natural avalanches breaking in the new and windblown snow and a few others breaking near the ground. Today the danger is rated HIGH on all slopes.</p>

<p>A solo skier died in a large avalanche yesterday on the west side of the Bridger Range. He triggered the slide on a heavily wind-loaded slope that broke up to 4 feet deep and 100 feet wide. He was carried over 1,000 feet vertical and did not survive the traumatic ride. New snow and strong east and south winds created dangerous avalanche conditions, which will continue today. The terrain is serious enough and conditions are bad enough that we are not investigating the accident site.</p>

<p>The northern mountains have gotten about a third of the snowfall of the southern mountains (1.4”-2.2” SWE) and the strong wind has drifted the snow into thick, deep drifts which can easily break from the weight of a skier or rider. Simply put, avoid wind-loaded terrain. These zones are found near ridgelines, on both west and east aspects, and also mid-mountain in gullies and couloirs. Ian was on Buck Ridge on Sunday and found unstable wind drifts and shooting cracks in front of his sled (<u><strong><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1PHAN4n83A&amp;list=PLXu5151nmAvRNl9ku…;). For today, the avalanche danger is rated CONSIDERABLE on wind-loaded slopes and MODERATE on all others.</p>

<p>If you get out and have any avalanche or snowpack observations to share, contact us via our <u><a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_observation">website</a></u&gt;, email (<u><a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com">mtavalanche@gmail.com</a></u&gt;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>