GNFAC Avalanche Advisory for Sat Dec 21, 2013
Bridger Range Madison Range Gallatin Range
Lionhead area near West Yellowstone
GNFAC Avalanche Advisory for Fri Dec 20, 2013
Bridger Range
GNFAC Avalanche Forecast for Thu Dec 19, 2013
Bridger Range
Yesterday a skier triggered and was caught in an avalanche on Saddle Peak about 300 feet below the summit. This slide ran past the traverse back to Bridger Bowl. According to him “unless you are comfortable with dying, it is a good idea to avoid Saddle Peak” and “only dumb luck and divine intervention kept us alive.” He was caught in the slide but fought as hard as he could to avoid being carried the full length of the avalanche and avoided being buried.
This very large slide was spotted near Hyalite Peak in the northern Gallatin Range on an east facing slope. The crown of the avalanche is hard to seen unless you zoom into the photo and look closely, but it broke across the entire face with the red line. Avalanches fracturing over such long distances are a major warning sign of unstable conditions. Photo: B. VandenBos
I kicked off a decent sized cornice on the Beehive Bear Basin Ridge. I was glad to see that it did not propagate, which matched my stability tests. It ran a ways downhill because the snowpack was all facets and they just flowed like sand chunks down the hill. Photo: GNFAC