Avalanche in West Fork of the Madison (Ennis, MT area)

[kevinm7]

Sorry I didn't post this earlier. I have been pretty busy out of town. Anyway, here's the story

We had a group of guys riding up in the West Fork of the Madison River on Thursday, February 27. The snowpack was a little unstable but didn't seem terrible. There was a very distinct crust about 12" below the surface. One guy in our group was climbing this hill when the slide began. There were 4 guys parked at the bottom watching. When he got about halfway up the face, he turned out and the avalanche broke. He was able to ride out of it and no one was collected or trapped in the debris pile. The avalanche was very slow moving. Here are some pics. Notice how deep the crown is. This could have very easily been bad. Thankfully no one was injured.

 

[kevinm7]

Sorry for the horrible formatting. I should know better than to post from Tapatalk like that haha

 

[AdrenalineAddict]

Montana is very frickin scary this year, be careful!!! I've seen things slide that I haven't seen slide in 28 years.

 

[Reg2view]

West Fork is a big area, where was the slide? Black Butte, Windy Hill, Freezeout, just a few that can slide. Thanks for the info. Fatality north of the cabin a few years ago. Remote area.

 

[kevinm7]

West Fork is a big area, where was the slide? Black Butte, Windy Hill, Freezeout, just a few that can slide. Thanks for the info. Fatality north of the cabin a few years ago. Remote area.

We were south of Black Butte. I'm not sure the name of the area as I usually just visit there with friends that know the area really well. I know that the top of the hill the avalanche occurred on is a huge bare, flat open plateau type mountain. Sorry, but that's the best I can do haha.

 

[kanedog]

Guys in the picture are parked pointing uphill facing the hill. Come on guys, really. At least point downhill or away from possible slide. That way you have an extra 5 or 10 seconds head start if it goes.

 

[m8braaaap]

Wow! Big slab!

 

[diamonddave]

Sorry for the horrible formatting. I should know better than to post from Tapatalk like that haha

just edit it (the post) and hit the enter button a few times between the pics..

 

[kevinm7]

Guys in the picture are parked pointing uphill facing the hill. Come on guys, really. At least point downhill or away from possible slide. That way you have an extra 5 or 10 seconds head start if it goes.

I wasn't there when the slide happened. I pulled up about 5 minutes after, but I said the exact same thing.

 

[Sling-it]

Is it common that a second slide would happen after the hill already released?

 

[Scott]

Is it common that a second slide would happen after the hill already released?

Yes, that can happen adjacent to it, or if the fracture line wasn't at the peak and something is still left hanging above it.