Ski it another day

Location Name: Central Glacier Park Observation date: Thursday, January 27, 2022 - 13:45	Is this an Avalanche Observation: Yes

Observation made by: Public

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Quick Observation

Ski tour in the southern Livingston Range.
Decent amount of old avalanche activity including one D3 off the NW face of Stanton that ran full path to the valley bottom near Trout Lake, Estimating this also ran a couple weeks ago during the warm up. We couldn’t see a crown, but skied across the debris terminus (photo).
Saw a D2 wind slab that likely ran in the last 48 hours on a NW aspect on a cross-loaded sub-ridge between Heavens and McPartland Mtn.
Another, older D2 slab that ran on the west face of Heavens. Crown mostly filled back in.
We could see a deep crown on the lower East face of Vaught, also looked old (photo).
Other D2-size debris piles noted in at least half dozen other paths above Trout Lake on Stanton, Vaught, and Rogers Mtns.
Dug a snow pit at 8200’ on a SW aspect and found a terrible snowpack structure and poor stability. HS=135 cm with a facet/crust sandwich buried about 30 cm down. Facets were very well-developed and large (3-5 mm) and would fall out of the pit wall. ECT failed/propagated on isolation (pit profile). After these findings we bailed on our original objective to ski a large alpine face and stuck to the nearby ridge.
Weather was beautiful with valley fog for most of the day between 5000-6500’, which burned off around 1600 hrs. Winds were calm to light from the SW except for on the summit where they were mod with strong gusts.
Surface hoar noted on top of the snowpack on shady aspects, mostly below 7000' elevation.

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:

Travel Details

Region:

Glacier National Park - McDonald Lake Area

Activity:

Skiing

Avalanche Details

Avalanche Details:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Thursday, January 13, 2022 - 12:15

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Hard Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

Old snow

More information or comments about the avalanche:

Debris about 150-200 feet wide and 20+ feet deep in places.

Trigger

Trigger:

natural

Terrain

Aspect:

Northwest

Starting Elevation:

near-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D3 - Could destroy a car, a wood house, or snap trees

Relative Size:

unknown

Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):

2500ft.

Avalanche Location:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Tuesday, January 25, 2022 - 13:00

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

New/old snow interface

Trigger

Trigger:

natural

Terrain

Aspect:

North

Starting Elevation:

above-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D2 Could bury, injure, or kill a person.

Relative Size:

R3 Medium

Crown Height:

1 ft

Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):

2000ft.

Avalanche Width (Average width):

500ft.

Avalanche Location:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Thursday, January 20, 2022 - 12:00

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

New/old snow interface

More information or comments about the avalanche:

Crown mostly filled back in. Perhaps ran late last week?

Trigger

Trigger:

natural

Terrain

Aspect:

Southwest

Starting Elevation:

above-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D2 Could bury, injure, or kill a person.

Relative Size:

R2 Small

Crown Height:

1 ft

Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):

1500ft.

Avalanche Width (Average width):

100ft.

Avalanche Location:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Thursday, January 13, 2022 - 12:15

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Hard Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

Old snow

More information or comments about the avalanche:

Looked to be an older crown and deeper. Thinking possibly a hard slab that failed during the warm-up a couple weeks ago. Could not view the runout. Crown dimensions very rough estimates.

Trigger

Trigger:

natural

Terrain

Aspect:

East

Starting Elevation:

above-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D2.5

Relative Size:

R2 Small

Crown Height:

4 ft

Avalanche Width (Average width):

200ft.

Avalanche Location:

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