Large Collapse on West Woody Ridge

We choose to stay off slopes steeper than 30 degrees before leaving the town and heading south of Cooke City to West Woody Ridge. This decision was based on the recent and seasonal avalanche history in the area. There have been several large and dangerous human-triggered and natural avalanches and many other smaller slides failing on persistent weak layers. We stuck to our choice when we dug a snowpit and got stable test results (ECTX). Near the ridge and the starting zones of nearby avalanche paths, we triggered a large collapse that sent shooting cracks out a couple hundred feet. If the slope had been any steeper, we would have triggered an avalanche. Our conviction to stick to our plan kept us safe. We recommend that you make travel plans based on the big-picture indicators of INSTABILITY and ignore snowpits that indicate STABILITY. 

In town, we heard vague reports of what sounded like another large, rider-triggered avalanche occurring on the north side of Scotch Bonnet near a human-triggered avalanche that broke on Friday. We also heard a report of localized collapsing in the Goose Lake area. And the group described hearing a boom and a roaring sound that they believed was an avalanche but did not have the visibility to confirm.