Wet Loose Avalanches, W Miller Ridge
Today we observed wet loose avalanches in steep, rocky terrain on the west side of Miller ridge. SW facing, 9500 ft
Today we observed wet loose avalanches in steep, rocky terrain on the west side of Miller ridge. SW facing, 9500 ft
Today we observed wet loose avalanches in steep, rocky terrain on the west side of Miller ridge. SW facing, 9500 ft
Toured much of the Hyalite zone yesterday. Winds calmed, sun came out mid day. 1” of new snow and 3” the day before. Skiing was great. Saw a couple huge cornices that had broken off. From the top of Devide peak we observed what looked like a cornice release above the headwaters of storm castle creek which triggered a slab, east facing aspect. Looked to be several feet deep and ran a long way. No other signs of instability observed. Great skiing. Solar aspects were saturated by the afternoon.
Ridge line just west of divide peak in Hyalite canyon. Photo: O Silitch
Saw a fairly fresh avalanche up Hyalite from the top of the Fat and Skinny Maids, I think that would put the avalanche in the Storm Castle Creek basin. Photo: F Miller
Ridge line just west of divide peak in Hyalite canyon
Saw a fairly fresh avalanche up Hyalite from the top of the Fat and Skinny Maids, I think that would put the avalanche in the Storm Castle Creek basin. North facing shady aspects were still cool and chalky, solar aspects were getting quite warm.
Got an early-ish start to beat the heat and was on top of Elephant Mountain by 9am this morning. Skied the southeast bowl for our first lap, which was supportable and mostly good corn skiing. It was unclear when solar aspects were going to fall apart, but I wouldn't have wanted to be skiing that bowl much later than we had. Very light wind, few clouds, and strong sun made for pretty rapid warming. The north aspect held cold snow down to 7500 ft or so, though it is quite shaded. Shout out to the party behind us up top for allowing me to engage them in meaningful communication about not skiing on top of us. That dialogue was appreciated. Lots of ski tracks in high places, pretty fun to see.
Another day of warm temps and clear skies allowed us to cover a lot of ground in the Southern Madisons. We rode into the Taylor Fork, up to the weather station, to the top of Carrot Basin, through Sage Basin, up and over into Cabin Creek, and all the way up to the head of Red Canyon.
We spotted a few old avalanches. One in Cabin Creek that was triggered two days ago by snowmobilers on a N facing aspect. At the top of Carrot Basin, we saw a small avalanche (R1-D1) on a N aspect that likely broke yesterday on buried weak layers. We also spotted one cornice-fall triggered (R2-D2) avalanche that broke earlier this week in Sage Basin and then an older cornice fall triggered slab in Sunlight Basin.
Another day of warm temps and clear skies allowed us to cover a lot of ground in the Southern Madisons. We rode into the Taylor Fork, up to the weather station, to the top of Carrot Basin, through Sage Basin, up and over into Cabin Creek, and all the way up to the head of Red Canyon.
There were a handful of small wet-loose avalanches on solar aspects that we noted throughout the day. While northerly aspects stayed cold, solar aspects became wet a couple inches down.