wet snow avalanches, warming snowpack near Cooke
We rode up to Lulu pass, around the back of Fisher Mtn, behind Crown Butte and out Miller Creek south of Crown Butte/Daisy Pass. The upper snowpack was wet, but supportable. We dug down about 3 feet in a meadow in Miller Creek. HS 255cm. The snowpack was wet in the top 20 cm. -1.5degree C down 20cm and -3C down 60 cm. Still dry 40 cm below surface.
Wind was strong out of the southwest. Skies became mostly cloudy around midday, but seemed to clear slightly in the afternoon. Temperatures in the high 30s to mid-40sF.
There were maybe 6-10 D1.5-D2 wet loose slides scattered around the area that we could see, similar to attached picture of Crown Butte (We could see Miller Mtn. east and north, Scotch Bonnet, Henderson, Crown Butte, Abundance, Wolverine). At lower elevations where the snowpack is shallower, closer to silver gate and the northeast corner of the park, there were some deeper wet loose slides (D2) and a couple small wet slabs (photo). I would estimate most of these happened yesterday (4/10). Today, a D1.5 wet slide buried one lane of road in YNP on a steep, treed ENE facing slope at 6900'.