Great Bear Mountain

We toured to the crest of the Flathead Range to see how conditions have developed since the recent snowfall.

• We took advantage of open roads and a low-elevation trail to access the west side of the range.
• The snowpack is undergoing diurnal melt-freeze cycles that make for uncommonly good conditions for this region.
• The snow from last weekend/ early this week has cooked down to 3-6" of wet pow on upper-elevation slopes receiving direct sun.  
• The few northerly slopes where we traveled held 6-15" of cold, dry snow. This snow is a mix of wind deposits, storm layers, and small facets.
• Upper elevations have seen a natural avalanche cycle the past two days. These were small to large loose wet slides that involved the recent snow and ran on the previous melt freeze crust. The crust allowed some to travel long distances. None appeared to scour below the crust.
• While we had good skiing on south and west aspects at upper elevations, the best actual corn was on mid-elevation westerly slopes. Corn-o'clock for these slopes was midday to early afternoon.

A few rollerballs with turns on steep slopes.

The snow surface on the mid-elevation, westerly slopes where we ascended was supportable, refrozen corn. It softened quickly in the sun, but on northwesterly, mid-elevation slopes, it was just soft enough to show turns mid afternoon.

At upper elevations, we found the recent snow sitting on a hard melt-freeze crust. The depth of the recent snow varied with aspect - 3-6" on southerly slopes, 6-15" on northerly. The snow on sun exposed slopes was wet by mid-day/ early afternoon. Fun, carvy turns.