Flathead Range & Glacier NP

The snowpack is generally stable. Steer around steep slopes where the snow is thin and rocky to avoid triggering a slide on a buried weak layer. Travel with a partner and carry avalanche rescue gear.

If you're looking to push the envelope today, push it towards slopes where the snowpack is deep and uniform. Our highest stations have seen only a few hours above freezing this month. This implies that a winter snowpack persists in the uppermost and shadiest reaches of the advisory area. Yesterday, Blase visited one such location on the North side of Nyack Mountain in the northern Flathead Range. There he found a weak and shallow snowpack on a rocky slope which required careful route finding. Although it is unlikely, this type of terrain is precisely where you could still trigger an avalanche on a buried weak layer. 

Mid-elevation weather stations in all ranges reached the mid-to upper-30s yesterday (Thursday) but dropped below freezing at dusk. Upper-elevation weather stations have remained below freezing since Wednesday. Temperature trends will be similar today. Cloud cover with ramping winds may slow the warming of the widespread melt-freeze crust or the overlying skiff of snow reported by backcountry observations. Like most of the month, the last day of March should be relatively lamb-like. Tomorrow, the lions come home. 

Give us some feedback and let us know more about your needs by completing the End-of-season Survey. Thanks to everyone who came out last night to enjoy Mark's talk about spring touring. It was great to see all of your smiling, goggle-tanned faces!