The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center (GNFAC) reports a skier survived getting caught and carried in an avalanche in the northern Bridgers on November 29th. The skier deployed their airbag and stopped on the surface of the debris and was able to dig himself out and did not suffer any injuries.
“Skiing the Pomp twins couloir, skier 1 began riding the bottom section after the curve and found a drastic change in snow quality as the aspect shifted. The Snow became heavily wind-affected, and as skier 1 made a turn on a slightly convex feature, it broke roughly a meter above and propagated ~150ft across. Skier 1 was carried ~250ft down, deployed his airbag, and managed to stay on top with no injuries, and managed to dig himself out. The crown appeared to be approximately 35-40 cm deep.”
The skier shared two videos of the incident, one of getting caught and deploying the airbag and one looking back uphill of the slide path.
The Gallatin National Forest Avalanche Center warns backcountry skiers and snowboarders to be prepared for avalanches if you venture into the mountains. Assess the snowpack for potential instability and be cautious of slopes steeper than 30 degrees. Go to www.mtavalanche.com for recent updates and observations.
Incident Observation Details:
Occurrence Date
Nov 29, 2025 @ 1200
Zone / Region
Bridger Range
Elevation
8,500 Feet
Observation Summary
11/29: ventured up towards Fairy Lake at 06:00 before the road closed for the season. We were met with about 30 cm of new snow and isolated areas with ~45 cm. The temperatures were cold, with wind chills likely well below -10 F and E/SE winds of about 10-15 mph. On the approach, we observed isolated areas with widespread cracking and collapsing, with cracks extending out ~75 ft. We descended down the twin pomp where we observed several areas of instability, including one D1.5 storm slab and one D2.5 wind slab, which caught and carried a skier (see avalanche report for details). The snowpack seems to be very stable below treeline, but very unstable above and near treeline. Below treeline, we did observe small point release incidents, but nothing large enough to be problematic to riders.
