Daisy Pass
Cooke City
Code
SS-N-R3-D2-O
Elevation
9400
Aspect
SW
Latitude
45.03980
Longitude
-109.94000
Notes
A snowmobiler saw this natural avalanche hit the Daisy Pass road within 10 minutes of riding by. He did a beacon search on the debris to confirm no one had been caught. It occurred about noon. This path is not very visible from the bottom and is not one that runs regularly. It killed a rider who was on the road in February 2012. The accident report has good photos of the path from afar.
Wind-loading in the start zone was the likely trigger since skiers and sledders do not access it.
From an email: "The crown was hard to see, but only looked a few feet deep where I could see it, but the debris pile was 10'+ on the road."
A big thanks to Dan Wykoff for providing the story and pictures.
Number caught
0
Number buried
0
Avalanche Type
Soft slab avalanche
Trigger
Natural trigger
R size
3
D size
2
Bed Surface
O - Old snow
Problem Type
Persistent Weak Layer
Vertical Fall
700ft
Slab Width
200.00ft
Images
Snow Observation Source
Slab Thickness units
centimeters
Single / Multiple / Red Flag
Single Avalanche
Advisory Year