Observation Date: 04/02/2020

Route/Location:
I ascended Lil Jo and was skiing powder laps on the east bowl when a window of visibility opened up and I could glass the crown from afar with a telephoto lens.

Weather:
Spring Squalls were blowing through all day, with wintery temps. Periods of heavy snow were followed by windows of sunshine.

Wind:
Interesting wind patterns. On the summit ridge, strong winds (15-25 mph) out of the West were actively transporting snow and loaded E/NE aspects (identical to the slope where the skier triggered slide occurred), while below the summit ridge weaker east winds were noted.

New Snow: 6-12″

Avalanche Activity:
During one of the sunbursts on top if Lil Jo I was glassing around looking at snow surfaces and I spotted a Large crown on Smoky Jo (Bitterroot peak 8533 just SE of Bass Lake) which spanned the entire E/NE face ~500 ft wide, ~2.5 ft deep, and also a skin just above it which led to the summit, with four sets of tracks heading down. I have to imagine this was triggered by one of those skiers.

Other Comments:
I experienced multiple collapses and whumping as I skinned up the final 500 ft of Lil Jo, but didn’t find any other red flags during my ski.

A short PSA to the Missoula area BC skiers. DIAL IT BACK! Now is not the time to be testing steep slopes 8 miles back Bass creek, it is the time to be minimizing risk. There’s plenty of low-angle wiggle powder to be had. Let’s treat this activity as a privilege and one that comes with a lot of responsibility.

Observer: Ned Gall