21-22

<p>The primary avalanche concern today is triggering a slide in a wind drift of recent snow. With multiple rounds of strong winds and snowfall over the last week, avalanches could break anywhere from 6 inches to 4 ft deep and may even break on slopes that haven’t been wind-loaded.&nbsp;</p>

<p>This week, skiers and snowmobilers have triggered avalanches across the advisory area from the Bridger Range (<a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/25164"><strong><u>photos and details</u></strong></a>) down to near West Yellowstone (<a href="https://mtavalanche.com/images/21/avalanche-bacon-rind-photo-15-dec-202… Rind photo</u></strong></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPHZEgnv4lM"><strong><u>Taylor Fork video</u></strong></a>). Now that snowfall has ended, triggering slides has become somewhat less likely, but remains a possibility.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Yesterday, Alex was at Two Top south of West Yellowstone (while outside of the advisory area it is near Lionhead and has a similar snowpack). He found a snowpack that appeared to have handled the 3 ft of new snow well, but was still cautious of deeper drifts (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meRoJb4vCPk"><strong><u>video</u></stro…;

<p>You are less likely to see obvious signs of instability today, so if you’re planning on riding steeper slopes, dig to evaluate how well the new snow has bonded to the old and also look for deeper weak layers.</p>

<p>Skiers or riders triggering avalanches is possible today and the avalanche danger is MODERATE.</p>

<p>Near Cooke City, you could trigger an avalanche 1-3 ft deep in wind-drifted snow from the last week. On Wednesday, snowmobilers triggered a 75-100 ft wide slab near Goose lake (<a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/25168"><strong><u>details</u></strong>…;). Watch out for wind-loaded slopes and either avoid them or dig to make sure that the drifts are well bonded. Avalanches are unlikely on non-windloaded slopes.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The avalanche danger is MODERATE on wind-loaded slopes and LOW on all others.</p>

<p>If you get out, please send us your observations no matter how brief. You can submit them via our <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/add/snow_observation"><strong><u>websi…;, email (<a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com"><strong><u>mtavalanche@gmail.com</u></str…;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>