Cooke City Snow Conditions for 2022/23

[christopher]

Cooke City, MT today......

 

[mt.sledder]

And now crickets!!!

 

[christopher]

And now crickets!!!

we need some first hand reports

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Go to Montana avalanche or gallatin avalanche and click on weather reports. It has base and depth and 24-72 hour snow as well as graphs of snow and of course there’s avalanche stuff

 

[revrider07]

need more reports here it’s what keeps this site fresh.

 

[Pinchecharlie]

 

[Pinchecharlie]

Sad and iam sorry to post. Condolences to the family and friends of the rider

 

[ndfb35]

Crown Butte slides almost every year. It's sad that people will spend money on the wrong things. He had a pack but no beacon... people really need to approach mountain riding with more caution with regards to avalanches.

 

[Ox]

I saw on the world news today that 1 sledder and 1 skier died in Avi's, and instantly I was betting that the sledder was in Cooke.

I am not familiar with the name of this hill here, but it looks familiar.
Is this the same hill?
Next to Daisy or Lulu, whichever is which...

Or is this slider further from town?

 

[Pinchecharlie]

https://www.topozone.com/montana/park-mt/summit/crown-butte-7/#:~:text=Printed Topo Map-,+"+"

 

[Ox]

I am sure that your answer is spot on, and per my recollections and your map - I am guessing that the answer is "yes - same hill", but that is only about 60% assurance.

Could someone give a more "yeah" or Neh" answer?

I don't know which ones are known for sliding, and which ones not.


.

 

[powdrdaz]

I do beleave that is the same hill. It's the right hand side of the way out of that area
Both sides of Daisy like to Avalanche
The same goes for Lulu

 

[Pinchecharlie]

I’ve actually never been there after a life time in Montana lol. The short answer is any slope over 30 degrees can and will slide. 34-40 if I remember is the most prone. Now with accurate avalanche predictions we can avoid that terrain when it’s most likely to slide: sorry I can’t answer your question but it’s pretty easy to see the potential in that terrain and it has a history so you can avoid it when nessacary? Several guys on here frequently post and live around there and are expert avalguys so I’ll let them add more real details.

 

[powdrdaz]

If you go up during the summer it's the hill that has the switchbacks on

 

[Ox]

Never been there in the summer.
Quite a while since there in the winter by now too.

Honestly, it has "slid" down to near the bottom of my favored list as they have by far the most body bags leaving the area of any.


.

 

[powdrdaz]

I think it's safe to say everything in Cooke has avalanched.
There was a warning that day about the close to the ground weak layer.
Last years first avalanch death had a warning also.
You could say that the mountains around Cooke have the same pull to sledders as mermaids have on sailers.
They know better but they call out to you. When you ride Cooke you really need to pay attention to what is going on.
When we were teaching my nephew the area there was a meadow that was all tracked up but one little place. He took off and hit that spot and after landing 10' in front of his sled we explained to him if a meadow is tracked up put one spot it's probably a rock
Cheap lesson for him and not the same but knowing is everything

 

[brantd]

theres absolutely no reason for avalanche deaths these days,dude had an undepolyed air bag backpack but him nor his buddy had a beacon?so they had probes,a shovel and airbag backpacks.....am I'm the only one the sees the clear failure here or am i dumb?

 

[High Voltage]

theres absolutely no reason for avalanche deaths these days,dude had an undepolyed air bag backpack but him nor his buddy had a beacon?so they had probes,a shovel and airbag backpacks.....am I'm the only one the sees the clear failure here or am i dumb?

Lots of mistakes were made, but the after fact is a beacon probably wouldn’t have save him being he was buried under 5 feet of snow. Wonder what would have been the case if he deployed his airbag?

 

[powdrdaz]

Totally seen it. I was wondering about the air bag also. That is a really steep mountain with big rocks on it
This is off the MTavalanch web of the slide

 

[I.P.Yellow]

Same spot our group helped recover a guy in 2009. Sad day and prayers to his family and friends. RIP?