Cooke City north of town

As noted in the avalanche observation attached, we came across a very large fresh avalanche on the north side of Crown Butte.  We later found out a snowmobiler was fully buried for 12-15 minutes. The rider was wearing an avalanche transceiver and with a partner, but it is unknown if the pair had shovels and probes. Fortunately, some well-trained and prepared riders nearby performed a quick rescue and the rider survived. They triggered the very large avalanche from low on the slope while descending from Daisy Pass.

We also saw a lot of avalanche crowns that happened during the recent snowfall and wind. Many were large (D2s), and had varying degrees of being filled back in by snow and drifting. Recent avalanche activity was widespread. Some avalanches broke within recent storm snow, some broke on persistent weak layers. We saw slides on northwest Miller Mtn., east side of Wolverine, lower shoulder (se facing) Mt. Abundance, north adn east face of Fisher Mtn., north and east side of Sheep., as well as lower in more sheltered terrain like Goose Crk. and Henderson Bench.

The snowpack has gained depth rapidly, but is still shallow. The heavy recent snow and wind have made for mostly supportable riding. The snow was supportable, but when stepping off our sleds we could kick down and feel the base give out, with weak snow in the lower 20-30cm (8-12") of the 3-5 foot deep snowpack. We also found small facets at the base of the snowpack 3-4 feet deep in a couple hand pits.

We observed many avalanches. The largest and most recent was triggered this morning by a snowmobiler on the north side of Crown Butte. Other avalanches were older and partly to mostly drifted in, many were large (D2).