18-19

<p>If you venture to the mountains this weekend, whether hunting for turns or for animals, pay attention to the possibility of avalanches. Slopes that hold the most snow and the best riding conditions are the most likely place to trigger an avalanche. A small slide this time of year can cause season ending injuries if it carries you into the many exposed rocks. Avalanches have caught and injured skiers, hunters, and climbers during the early-season. Travel and prepare for avalanches like you would in the middle of winter.</p>

<ul>
<li>Equip yourself with all the tools you normally travel with mid-winter: beacon, shovel and probe at a minimum. Helmets are especially helpful with rocky runout zones and thin coverage.</li>
<li>Travel one at a time in avalanche terrain.</li>
<li>Small avalanches can be season-ending affairs at best and deadly at their worst. Be careful of getting swept into rocks or buried deeply in gullies or carried off cliffs. All of these have occurred early season in Montana.</li>
<li>Avoid steep slopes with thick drifts of snow. These slopes are the most inviting because they have full coverage for skiing, but they are also the likeliest area to trigger a slide.</li>
<li>Cracking and collapsing of the snow is bulls-eye information that the snow is unstable.</li>
</ul>

<p>There are two things you can do right now to prepare yourself for successful backcountry travel. First, read <u><strong><a href="http://www.mtavalanche.com/accident/12/10/31">this accident report</a></strong></u> from October 2012 in the northern Bridger Range. It’s chock full of useful lessons. Second, plan to attend one of our avalanche education courses listed <u><strong><a href="http://www.mtavalanche.com/education">HERE</a></strong></u>.</p&gt;

<p>This month we are preparing for winter, scheduling avalanche classes, and setting up weather stations. If you get outside send us an observation via our website, email (<u><a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com">mtavalanche@gmail.com</a></u&gt;), phone (406-587-6984), or Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>

<p>Since Saturday night 6-10” fell in the northern mountains and 3-6” fell in the south. Ridgetop winds are westerly at 15-20 mph in the Bridger Range and are strong enough to drift snow and create wind slabs. Areas with the deepest snow, least amount of rocks, and most inviting skiing will be wind-loaded areas: gullies and higher elevation slopes. This presents a quandary because wind-loaded slopes are where someone could trigger an avalanche.</p>

<p>Since Saturday night 6-10” fell in the northern mountains and 3-6” fell in the south. Ridgetop winds are westerly at 15-20 mph in the Bridger Range and are strong enough to drift snow and create wind slabs. Areas with the deepest snow, least amount of rocks, and most inviting skiing will be wind-loaded areas: gullies and higher elevation slopes. This presents a quandary because wind-loaded slopes are where someone could trigger an avalanche.</p>

<p>Avalanches are more easily triggering during a storm and soon after the snowfall and or wind-loading stops…today and tomorrow. Even small avalanches injure and kill. The sacred rules of backcountry travel are not loosened in October:</p>

<ul>
<li>Carry rescue gear (beacon shovel and probe) along with other personal safety you normally carry mid-winter (i.e. helmet or airbag).</li>
<li>Only expose one person at a time in avalanche terrain, both heading up and sliding down.</li>
<li>Cracking and collapsing of the snow, most likely in wind drifts, are signs that slopes are unstable and could avalanche.</li>
</ul>

<p>With snow on the ground, now is a good time to sharpen our minds and check our gear. Replace batteries in your beacon, recharge your airbag, make sure probe poles aren’t sticky, and shovel parts fit together smoothly. There are many avalanche education opportunities this fall, such as an avalanche workshop next <a class="external" href="http://www.montana.edu/snowscience/workshop/&quot; target="_blank">Wednesday evening (October 11) at MSU</a>. Check out the full education offerings <a href="http://www.mtavalanche.com/education"><strong>HERE</strong></a>.</p&gt;

<hr />
<p>This month we are preparing for winter, scheduling avalanche classes, and setting up weather stations. If you get outside send us an observation via our website, email (<a href="mailto:mtavalanche@gmail.com">mtavalanche@gmail.com</a&gt;), phone (406-587-6984), or tag us on Instagram (#gnfacobs).</p>