Deadly Winter - A Look At A Yearlong Avalanche Cycle In Montana
By patclayton | November 13th, 2012 The prevailing southwesterly
winds begin to load The Barrels during the 2011-'12 winter in
Montana. Words and photos by Pat Clayton Standing at the bottom,
eyes gazing upward, mouth position - donut hole. It was the
state many of us found ourselves in more than once during the
2011-12 winter, as the snowpack around southwest Montana seemed
to be in the valley floor rather than on the mountainsides. An
impressive display of anger from an utterly upside-down
snowpack, like wet scabs, these deep slabs slipped off their
precarious perches roaring again and again to the end of their
historical run outs. The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche
Center did yeoman's work to inform the public that this was no
ordinary snowpack, while the Bridger Bowl Ski Patrol worked it
hard to keep the mountain safe. Forest service avalanche
scientist Karl Birkeland summed it up this way: “The 2011-12
season started with a thin snowpack