21-22

<p>In the mountains around Cooke City wind blew the previous day's snow (1-2 feet) into drifts. Some of these cracked (<a href="https://mtavalanche.com/images/21/cracking-drift-scotch-bonnet"><strong…;) which showed their potential to avalanche. Today the wind is still blowing yet loading is minimal. On Sunday and Monday, Dave hunted for weak snow and did not find much. He even titled his video “<a href="https://youtu.be/QOBIciPigDY"><strong><u>Good News from Cooke City</u></strong></a>”. His main concern was wind-loaded slopes and a weak(er) layer of sugary, faceted snow near the bottom of the snowpack. Avalanches are still possible as evidenced by a natural avalanche on a wind-loaded slope on Sheep Mountain (<a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/images/21/natural-avalanche-sheep-mountain"…;) yesterday. These dangers are isolated, but concerning nonetheless. Avoid wind-loaded terrain and be on the hunt for buried weak layers. For today, the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE on all slopes.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The southern Gallatin and southern Madison Ranges along with Lionhead have a suspect snowpack structure (dense snow being held up by weaker, sugary facets). In our stability tests we are finding this interface sometimes breaks. At Lionhead on Monday, it fractured in one of our two pits (<a href="https://youtu.be/7EEn6f8-4fA"><strong><u>video</u></strong></a&gt;).&nbsp; Other red flags of instability include widespread collapsing, or “whumpfs”, from <a href="https://www.mtavalanche.com/node/25215"><strong><u>skiers in Specimen Creek</u></strong></a> in a thin snowpack (less than 2 feet deep), and an avalanche a week ago in <a href="https://mtavalanche.com/images/21/avalanche-bacon-rind-photo-15-dec-202… Rind</u></strong></a>. The potential to trigger slides is not widespread, but areas with weak snow near the ground, or slopes that have a thick load of wind-drifted snow require extra caution. Today, the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE on all slopes.</p>

<p>In the mountains around Bozeman to Big Sky the snowpack is mostly stable, with the exception of wind-drifts. Snowfall since Sunday (less than a foot) was blown into drifts from strong westerly wind. Loading has generally stopped, yet the instability lingers. Ian and his partner rode Buck Ridge and found the snowpack was adequately supporting recent snowfall (<a href="https://youtu.be/cf-qqv2Ssjw"><strong><u>video</u></strong></a&gt;). During times of decreasing avalanche danger it’s easy to be complacent, so I’m recommending you do as we do: always carry rescue gear, dig and assess slopes you plan on hitting, and only travel one-at a time in avalanche terrain (any slope greater than 30 degrees). And if you want to be really pro, carry an inclinometer in your pocket. Today the avalanche danger is rated MODERATE on wind-loaded slopes and LOW on all others.&nbsp;&nbsp;</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>