21-22

We saw surface hoar on all aspects near Cooke City on January 16, 2022. Photo: GNFAC

On Saturday we found very different ECT results in our two snow pits. ECTX on the lover meadow got us excited to ski steeper runs off the Earnie Miller Ridge. We hiked up another 500 feet and dug another pit and got ECTF 7. Fail on the ground sugary snow layer. I never saw such a clean break. The whole block fell and leaned on me without breaking. See the photo.

Pit 1: 
ECTX
Elevation: 8700'
Aspect: 95
Slope: 20
Snow: 120, no obvios layers

Pit 2:
ECTF 7
Elevation 9200
Aspect: 100
Slope: 35
Snow: 135, just like the lower pit no obvious layers, very compact, sugary snow on the ground.

Surface hoar forming

Skied up in the Maid of the Mist basin today. Dug a pit on a 24 deg, NNW facing slope just lookers right of the bottom of the Fat Maid. HS 135cm, had a CT10 RP @ 112cm followed by ECTN9 on the same layer. Facets at the ground were 4F+ and quite cohesive. Skied the Fat Maid, didn't see any signs of instability all day.

A view of Sacajewea Peak from the Fairy Lake road. Evidence of winds are seen on the right shoulder of the peak. Photo: GNFAC

Slopes on Hardscabble Peak in the northern Bridger Range show bare slopes that got blown clean by wind. Photo: GNFAC

In the northern Bridger Range we dug a pit at 8700 feet on a north facing slope before skiing the chute into the basin. Our stability tests did not break and all evidence pointed to a LOW danger. Photo: GNFAC

Yesterday (1/15) we toured up to Middle peak via Middle Basin then then dropped into upper Bear Basin to take advantage of the stable conditions and ride one of the couloir back there. Conditions were extremely stable. We saw no signs of avalanches or instability at any point during the day. The main thing to note is that snow quality was very variable. East facing slopes for the most part seem to be holding decent snow still. However, other aspects and spots along ridgelines were very wind scoured, leaving an extremely hard surface that made skinning and riding difficult at times. The open face of Middle Peak had these conditions and it caused us to back off our main objective of riding the couloir off of Bear Claw Peak due to the fact it was the same aspect of Middle Peak and we were worried if it had similar snow quality it would make for a dangerous climb and ride. We found this hard wind scoured surface in exposed spots in Upper Bear Basin as well. If we get a good dump of snow this would make a very slick bed surface for avalanches to slide on. 

We saw a lot of medium to large sized cornices as well, including a very large cornice hanging over upper Bear Basin along the ridge NW of Middle Peak. These cornices seemed to be rock solid but will make huge bombs if we get a warming event. We saw multiple cornice collapses  along the ridge between Beehive Basin and Middle Basin. We were unable to tell if they were natural or skier triggered but they looked to be old and did not cause any reaction from the snowpack. 

The west side of the ridge between Beehive and Middle Basin is completely stripped of snow along the ridge line. The wind has even started to transport exposed dirt. Very few options are available to ride this side of the ridge into Beehive Basin.