14-15

We went up Flanders Creek to the ridge to see how the wind-slabs that formed last week were reacting.  Even though we found facets under the thin slabs (Eric is holding a piece of wind slab) , they were not unstable. Check out our video.   Photo: GNFAC

Higher elevations continue to have near normal to well above normal percentages, while lower elevations that experienced melt during the month from above average temperatures and rain-on-snow events have made significant declines over the month of February. Get the full report from the NRCS HERE.

Many small wind slabs like this on were easily triggered by skiers near Cooke City during the last few days mostly on N and NE aspects. Photo: J. Logan

This skier triggered wind slab ran about 700 feet vertical and produced debris 2-3 feet deep. Photo: GNFAC

Skier triggered wind slab about 30 feet wide, less than a foot deep and running about 100 vertical feet. Not enough to bury a person, but could hurt if it pushed you into trees or rocks. Photo: GNFAC

"We triggered a medium sized wind slab about 50 ft wide and 12" deep. It released easily after I kicked a small piece of the cornice on it, the chunk was only about twice the size of a football. We're talking R1D1, maybe D2, but a person would have gone for a wild ride if they were stuck in it. The weak later seemed to be facets that formed near a thin crust that was buried by the wind slab. We had dug a pit less than 500 ft down at a similar aspect and didn't see any signs of concern. ECTX, CTN, and no noticeable weaknesses in the pack." Photo: A. Schauer