Two people were unharmed after being caught and carried roughly 150 feet in an avalanche on Sunday in the Flathead Mountain Range.
Flathead Avalanche Center Forecaster Cameron Johnson said they’re starting to see an uptick in reports of human-triggered avalanches.
“A lot of these reported avalanches are in wind-drifted snow, so areas where the wind is transporting snow into thicker slabs that can be possible to trigger for a human,” said Johnson.
Despite a slightly lower-than-average snowpack in Northwest Montana for this time of year, Johnson said consistent winds on mountain slopes are creating wind slabs, which can easily break causing avalanches.
Johnson said the group of skiers caught in Sunday’s avalanche reported the information to the avalanche center’s observations page.