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Alpine, Wyoming Snow Report Rockin' M Ranch

rockinmranch

Well-known member
Premium Member
This is Rob from the Rockin' M Ranch . I intend to post several reports this season as I have in the past. We are a cabin rental business located 4 miles south of the town of Alpine on the banks of the Salt River. We have several very nicely equipped cabins with full well stocked kitchens, Direct Tv, Gas fireplaces, covered decks with gas grills, plenty of parking for large trailers, and a couple of hot tubs within a 100' of each cabin. We do not charge all of the excesive fees like the popular vacation rental sites. We have exclusive access to the Targhee National forest to the west of the cabins. You can be off trail riding in less than a mile. My favorite riding in that direction. 4 miles by trail to Alpine of you choose to ride the Greys River. Popular areas like Bedford are about 30 minutes by truck and trailer. I've been guiding snowmobile trips in this area since the early 90's,and until a few years ago, we were one of the main snowmobile rental businesses and guide services in the area. Therefore, I am more than happy to advise new riders and cabin guests to the area. personally ride as much as I can. If you are interested in a place to stay please check us out at Rockin M Ranch. Or give us a call at 307-654-2288.

A few things to keep in mind while reading my reports. The town of Alpine is about 5700' and the Rockin' M sits at about 5800'. Most of our riding is 6000-10,000. Of course 6" in the valley will often be 3x's that up high where we typically ride. In general Alpine gets a lot of snow. Typically more than Jackson or Afton, which are at higher elevations. You can expect to have enough snow to ride the valley floor from early December until early April. Most of the Wyoming State groomers operate until early April. As for the snotel sites: Blind Bull is 26 miles up the Greys River and about 10-15 miles east on top of the Wyoming range. Willow Creek is straight east of Thayne (15 miles south of the Rockin' M) near the Bedford Turnerville area high up in the Salt River Range. Spring Creek divide is in the Commisary ridge area (East of Afton) Salt River Range. Keep in mind, Spring Creek divide snotel site is higher in elevation than most of the other sites. Although the ski resorts are not in our valley, their totals can give a bit of an idea how much the nearby high country has received. Jackson Hole Resort is on the west side of the Teton Range and Grand Targhee is on the east side. I often copy and paste the avalanche report. The Bridger Teton National Frest updates daily. Always wise to check it out before hitting the back country.

12-3-2023 Alpine. Wyoming Snow Report Rockin' M Ranch
Before Thursday there wasn't really enough snow to ride anywhere. In some ways that was good. It's the October storms that create the rotten weak layer in the high basins that typically haunt us all season. Hopefully there isn't too much of that this season. We have been socked in for three days straight. Since the snow has started we have picked up about 10" here at the cabins. Pretty good moisture content. Temps were about 25-30 degrees and supposed to continue until tomorrow morning. The high country has been getting hit hard. It appears that most locations have picked up 2-3 feet. Willow creek snotel 29" Spring Creek Snotel 36" and Blind Bull 29". Both ski resort are reporting 2-3 feet in the last 3 days.
 
Can you post snow pics from Rockin m Ranch? Thx, looking frwd to updates. Please include pic of shop for Snowest comments and critique haha
 
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Wow, if I had two more people to join us, we could go for a loft cabin, but for two people it's not cost-effective. Question -- where can we park and unload if we trailer down from Alpine?

Thank you for the detailed reports! We're coming from Nevada because there's no snow to speak of around Lake Tahoe.
 
12/8/2023 Alpine, Wyoming Snow Report Rockin' M Ranch
Since my last report on Sunday the valley temps have been all over the place, highs mostly in the upper 30's with a few more inches of sloppy snow early in the week. Great to settle the base. Last night left us about 1-2" here at the Rockin' M. Both of the local ski resorts are showing around 10-12" in the last 36 hours. The biggest surprise is the snotel at Willow Creek. It has gone from 25" 36 hours ago to 48" today. I initially thought it was lying, but it is giving consitent readings going up every hour. Appears to be working properly. Willow is one of those places that can get hammered if the storms settle in just right.
 
Snow to an extent here on the side of Wyoming Range ( Blind Bull & Dead Man) - No base but got it out of the system . Not going again till we get something more than snow that lightly covers ( hides) fallen trees and boulders

From last Sunday ...

IMG_9211.JPG
 
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Alpine, Wyoming Snow Report Rockin' M Ranch Jan 6, 2024
Not much has happened here in Alpine in the last 3 weeks/month when it comes to snow. The good news is the temps were much lower than predicted so most of the snow we picked up last month is still here, just settled. We have a crusty layer of 8-10" on the valley floor. Should be good to cover rocks on the surface, but the avalanche danger is going to be high when we get a significant snow load on this crusty layer. In the last few days we picked up 2" here at the Rockin' M Ranch. Willow Creek snotel is showing 8" of new snow in the last couple of days. Willow Creek is now at 37". We are supposably in line for several storms this next week. It will not take much to turn this winter around. I will report back as we pick up significant snow this week.
 
January 9, 2024
4" a few days ago. We are getting hit hard right now. 6-8" so far today and snow predicted everyday for the next 4 days. I will give a detailed report tomorrow. I think winter finally arrived. Should have good riding by the weekend!!
 
January 10, 2024
Another 2" overnight. Lots of wind. Probably 8-10" in the last 36 hours. Willow creek snotel now 49" Spring creek 42". Mountains appear to have picked up about a foot in the last 36"
Avalache danger is high.
https://bridgertetonavalanchecenter.org/forecasts/#/greys-riverBTNF: https://bridgertetonavalanchecenter.org/forecasts/#/greys-river
Wind and storm slabs became touchy yesterday afternoon when only 6-8" of the 12-18" of new snow had impacted Greys zones. More new snow falling overnight and today will make the slabs even thicker, up to 4' thick in places. The new snow was becoming touchy even in areas not affected by wind yesterday afternoon and this will be the case today. Remember that the new storm and wind slabs sit on weak snow that faceted into loose, unconsolidated grains due to the cold, drought conditions that occured in December.

The 8-12" of new snow that fell yesterday was light and dry. Snow continues today and in wind sheltered locations without a slab, you'll find sluffing of the new snow and older facets to cause a different kind of problem. Keeping terrain choices mellow today is a wise choice, particularly considering the weakness of older buried layers as discussed in avalanche problem number two.
 
So it is hard to tell exactly how much snow we got in the last 24 hours. This was one of the windiest storms I have seen in a while. I plowed this morning anywhere from 8 inches to 12 inches off from our road here at the Rockin Ranch. I am sure a good part of that snow blew in from other places. The coverage is looking pretty good. I’m excited to get out and start riding the less steep country on the Idaho side. I would avoid the steeper high country for a while.

IMG_6433.jpeg IMG_6425.jpeg
 
From Bridger Teton Avalanche:
Historically dry conditions in December formed a widespread weak layer across all elevations and most aspects that is now buried 1-2.5 feet below the snow surface. This zone has received 35” of snow since Jan 4th. This accumulated snow with increasing strong W wind last night/today will create ideal conditions for natural and very sensitive human triggered avalanches. These avalanches can be triggered remotely from gentle terrain above, below, or to the side of steep slopes. The unpredictable nature of these avalanches can catch you off guard, as these avalanches could even fail on treed slopes or occur naturally on steep terrain above you. Simply put, travel in avalanche terrain is not recommended. If you are venturing out, make sure you are familiar with the area to identify runout zones of avalanche large paths and stay in simple, flat terrain.

Deeper weak layers formed in November are buried around 3 feet above hard slabs. The potential for avalanches triggered on the weak layer mentioned above could step down to these deeper layers causing an even larger, destructive avalanche.
 
Can anyone point me in the direction of where to find GPS trail maps for the riding area around Rockin M Ranch. We are headed there this weekend.
 
Alpine Wyoming Snow Report Rockin' M Ranch 1/17/2024
I measured 5" on my truck since I parked it last night. The winter has made a big turn around from 2 weeks ago. Willow creek snotel has ranged from 57-63" in the last couple days. Blind Bull appears to be broken, last reading 45" a few days ago,, and Spring creek at 56". Snow in the forecast everyday for the next week. 4-7" predicted tonight into tomorrow. Avalanche danger has been lowered from high to considerable. Not a good time to be riding over 30 degree slopes. Lots of snow and fun to be had in the lower elevations. There is great riding on the Idaho side from McCoy creek road, including Poker peak. Little Greys up the Greys River has some great riding thats not too steep. Plenty of riding up the Smith Fork without getting too steep.
Todays avalanche summary from BTNF:

THE BOTTOM LINE​

Dangerous avalanche conditions exist today. Human-triggered avalanches are likely in steep terrain. Avalanches can be triggered in areas where the wind has built drifts and in areas sheltered from the wind, as well as while approaching or riding a slope, from adjacent terrain, or below.
Expect avalanche danger to increase significantly as as heavy snowfall and wind arrive early this evening.
 
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