Summit County Citizens Voice

Hundreds of tracks are visible next to a massive Feb. 16 slide on Saddle Peak in Montana. PHOTO COURTESY SEAN SPERRY AND THE GALLATIN NATIONAL AVALANCHE CENTER. Click on the image to see a series of photos from the slide.

Well-skied area near Bridger Bowl hit by huge slide, nobody buried

SUMMIT COUNTY — Dozens of backcountry skiers in Montana experienced a close call with a massive Feb. 16 avalanche on Saddle Peak, near Bridger Bowl Ski Area.

Several photographers captured images of the slide and the aftermath. See the photos on the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center here.

According to the Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center, the slide ran in an area that had been heavily skied and was criss-crossed by tracks. The slide propagated along a fracture about a quarter of a mile long, an piled debris up to 20 feet deep.

According the center, the slide was triggered when a backcountry traveler approached the ridge and knocked a piece of the cornice on to the slope below. The weak layer was buried deep in the snowpack and the avalanche experts with the center said previous skier traffic did nothing to stabilize the snow.

“Tracks do not equal stability,” the center wrote in one of the captions with a stellar series of photos of the slide and its aftermath.

The slide was seen by hundreds of people from nearby Bridger Bowl and by backcountry skiers on adjacent terrain on Saddle Mountain. Gallatin County Search and Rescue responded to search the debris for possible victims. ABout 40 volunteers were involved, including four avalanche dogs. No one was reported missing and  no beacon signals were detected.

Filed under: avalanches, search and rescue, skiing and riding, snow, Snow and weather Tagged: | avalanches, backcountry skiing, Bridger Bowl, Montana, Saddle Peak