2012 Montana Conditions, Stoke and Whatev Thread

[Bunion 2020]

Heading down with the Gimp.

Probably towards the Bowl or Challenger although the south side sounds enticing.

Edit to add:

Pretty fun skiing on the Challenger side of things. Crons and Dobies slid deep and put a huge debris pile just above the unload for the Triple/Double.

[Harry]

What a fun day. Bunion is correct about Challenger, soft snow so I did multiple laps up there. Moonlight tree runs were also awesome, Single Jack was $$$$.








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[swimmy]

Met up with Spud for a super fun morning at Bridger. Dude flat out rips.

[Talisman]

As stated Challenger was great today as were some lines off of Sheddy and Dakota. Laps off of Headwaters into Alder Gulch and Cold Spring were well covered but scratchy in spots. The new G Spot shack is complete and ready for a tour..

[swimmy]

Wanker Wednesday

[yeahman]

Crons and Dobies slid deep and put a huge debris pile just above the unload for the Triple/Double.

Jeebus, when will it end? I will be there Sunday/Monday and am really hoping for some new terrain to be open up high. No chance?!

[Bunion 2020]

Hard to say. When we got off the 3x2 I asked about the Bowl (Turkey Traverse was closed) as was told probably not. As we were leaving Challenger at 1:00 I saw folks skiing the south wall. Pretty breezy with a lot of wind transport from the south so..........

[Talisman]

Pretty breezy with a lot of wind transport from the south so..........

The tram was used this afternoon for what appeared to be practice belays from a tram car stopped near the Cron's slide.

[swimmy]

There were a ton of tracks on Saddle and the Football Field today. No way you'd catch me up there right now as I don't trust this snowpack.

Guess this happened after I left. Fortunately no one was hurt.

[yeahman]

^^Whoa!!

Be real curious to know what the dynamic is between patrol and management these days at BS. I'm guessing RA isn't sleeping too well. Hopefully things will get back on track sooner than later. Safety first.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

There were a ton of tracks on Saddle and the Football Field today. No way you'd catch me up there right now as I don't trust this snowpack.

Guess this happened after I left. Fortunately no one was hurt.

1st turn, 2nd turn, 3rd turn, 4th tu......someone get that guy a fresh diaper. Ho Lee Fuk.

[snowaddict91]

1st turn, 2nd turn, 3rd turn, 4th tu......someone get that guy a fresh diaper. Ho Lee Fuk.

For real. JFC.

[swimmy]

1st turn, 2nd turn, 3rd turn, 4th tu......someone get that guy a fresh diaper. Ho Lee Fuk.

[idahospud]

Swimmy, greet to meet you and ski this AM. That was a hoot, I don't think I've ever done that many laps in North Bowl, but when the getting's good...

The crown on that slide's gotta be at least 2 feet. Glad no one went for a ride because if they did I don't think they'd be around to tell anyone about it.

[Bunion 2020]

Lucky.

^^Whoa!!

Be real curious to know what the dynamic is between patrol and management these days at BS. I'm guessing RA isn't sleeping too well. Hopefully things will get back on track sooner than later. Safety first.

I asked that of a buddy who is still there. He said the patrol are being encourage to do their thing as they see fit during what has been a challenging avalanche cycle. These types of seasons happen and a lot of the patrol have been through a few of them.

[2FUNKY]

Sweet jesus that person got lucky.

[abraham]

Yeah. Fuck.
Hope they were wearing their brown pants

[concretejungle]

Are we going to get video of the slide from the Saddle Peak cam?

[2_1_3]

D.a.m.n.

Looking closer, things get possibly a little more interesting?¹

Check out the skier's exit track from the Avy a (presumably the initial slide). Uphill hand traverse, presumably looking upslope going 'double f@#$!, ehhh, whew'...but then airs off a crown into the path of Avy b! Note the track across the bed surface of Avy b, indicating that this slide had already occurred by the time the skier went across.

This provides at least two possibilities: 1) Perhaps Avy b had already went (could have been triggered near the ??? above from the other skier). 2) This was part of Avy a as the fracture propagated across (and up) the slope. The velocity that slabs travel once up to speed seems generally consistent with fracture and the time it would take for the skier to make their exit, cut left, and ski over the bed.

An armchair interpretation: The acuteness, or 'deepness' (for lack of a better word) of the crown forming the 'V' between the two slides seems like an odd geometry for fracture propagation across a slope (#wayoutsidemylane), so it makes me think that Avy b occurred first. But I'm sure weird things occur in such complex snowpacks and terrain situations, so that could be a total BS interpretation. If it was the same slide, it seems crazy that the now unsupported hangfire could still be essentially ski cut and not fail. Ski cut either way, in fact! Cursed deep slab and its myriad complexities. Anyways, this made me go hmmm. so thought I'd share for the fun of wondering how it all went down.

Also noted is the small step down-looking feature below the first set of trees in the path of Avy a. In geosciences we can often get away with sketchy interpretations by simply adding a question mark.

Be safe out there and have fun!

-A maritime snow enthusiast


¹Disclaimer: A lot of windblown pow was skied today and I may now be under the influence.

[Norseman]

Almost as alarming as the Argentina slab is the centerpunch track from the north peak... man is there some shit above, with a bad ride below.

[swimmy]

so it makes me think that Avy b occurred first.

Correct.

From email sent into the Avalanche Center:

"Skiers triggered two separate slides on south Saddle this afternoon. we witnessed the smaller slide to the lookers right of the big slide, the bigger one happened later apparently... The first smaller slide was caused by a ski cut near the trees, fracture was about 2 feet, soft slab that seemed to run on a thin sun crust. below the sun crust was also very weak and sugary. Not sure when the second skier went farther out and triggered the whole bowl, but they got lucky!!"

[Hodgge]

There were a ton of tracks on Saddle and the Football Field today. No way you'd catch me up there right now as I don't trust this snowpack.

Guess this happened after I left. Fortunately no one was hurt.

Never ceases to amaze me that people will ski such high consequence terrain seemingly regardless of the avalanche hazard.

[yeahman]

Just thankful we're not talking about a burial and body recovery right now. Hopefully the people skiing that terrain in these conditions will get the message and dial it back.

[idahospud]

Hopefully the people skiing that terrain in these conditions will get the message and dial it back.

In Bozeman? Not a chance. Everyone here is invincible until they're not.

[NWFlow]

but holy fuck i bet people had some good runs out there...