The "crown" of a very small skier triggered avalanche in the northern Bridger Range. 1/6/23. GNFAC photo.
The "crown" of a very small skier triggered avalanche in the northern Bridger Range. 1/6/23. GNFAC photo.
We rode into The Throne, and skinned up the ridge. While skinning we saw cracks in front of our skis in the 6” of new snow. Photo: GNFAC
Looking down the very small avalanche (~4" deep) we triggered on a small, steep slope below The Throne. GNFAC photo. 1/6/23.
While skiing back to our sleds we triggered a very small slide on a small, ~35º below treeline slope (SS-ASu-R1-D0.5). This was on a southerly aspect, at about 7,000 feet, 4-6” down on surface hoar, 15’ wide, 30’ vertical run. There was a very hard crust underneath the surface hoar.
Dug a pit today near the prayer flags and got an ECTX on E slope around 9200’ HS 140cm. Facets near the ground appeared to be rounding and bonding nicely. There is a weak layer at 110cm but not a cohesive slab above it, could be interesting when we get new snow. Did observe newly formed facets on the surface. Minor wind transport at ridge line in the afternoon. Mostly right-side up, quality riding
Extremely crusty snow. Dug a pit and found three very defined ice layers around 5500ft.
At 1:30 PM on Jan 6th a large avalanche poured over the cliffs on Saddle Peak, outside the boundaries of Bridger Bowl. Clouds obscured the starting zone. Multiple groups were in the runout zone, including a party building a jump. One person was caught and buried up to his neck. He was able extricate himself and was unharmed. He estimated the debris was at least six feet deep.
We believe this was a natural avalanche that broke in the new and wind drifted snow. Bridger Bowl measured 6" of new snow with 0.75 inches of Snow Water Equivalent at the Alpine Wx. Station.
At 1:30 PM on Jan 6th a large avalanche poured over the cliffs on Saddle Peak, outside the boundaries of Bridger Bowl. Clouds obscured the starting zone. Multiple groups were in the runout zone, including a skier hitting a jump. One person was caught and buried up to his neck. He was able extricate himself and was unharmed. He did a beacon search at the toe of the debris. He estimated the debris was at least six feet deep.
We believe this was a natural avalanche that broke in the new and wind drifted snow which then broke into older snow. Bridger Bowl measured 6" of new snow with 0.75 inches of Snow Water Equivalent at the Alpine Wx. Station. The avalanche was estimated to be 2 feet deep, and measured on Google Earth to be 550 feet wide and 1700 feet long.
More pictures, video and information can be found HERE on our Incidents page.
At 1:30 PM on Jan 6th a large avalanche poured over the cliffs on Saddle Peak, outside the boundaries of Bridger Bowl. Clouds obscured the starting zone. Multiple groups were in the runout zone, including a skier hitting a jump. One person was caught and buried up to his neck. He was able extricate himself and was unharmed. He did a beacon search at the toe of the debris. He estimated the debris was at least six feet deep.
We believe this was a natural avalanche that broke in the new and wind drifted snow. Bridger Bowl measured 6" of new snow with 0.75 inches of Snow Water Equivalent at the Alpine Wx. Station. The avalanche was estimated to be 3 feet deep, and measured on Google Earth to be 550 feet wide and 2100 feet long.