Flathead Range & Glacier NP

A thick and supportable surface crust currently has the snowpack locked in place. Enjoy generally safe avalanche conditions while watching out for isolated slabs of drifted snow. You will likely only find these if your travels take you high into the upper elevations, especially in the Flathead Range or Glacier National Park. Slabs should be harmless in size, but could be consequential if caught above a cliff band or stand of trees. 

Relatively benign weather has put us in a current holding pattern of low danger with some isolated exceptions.

The first and more obvious exception will be isolated slabs of drifted snow. I would expect to find these above 6500 feet and primarily in the Flathead Range and Glacier National Park. Since only a trace to two inches of snow fell on Tuesday with gusty winds, expect these to be small and easy to manage. Ride around obvious clues of drifted snow and pillowy surfaces. Hedge your bets by sticking to terrain with clean runouts.

The second exception is a persistent slab. This week we observed a total of 4 persistent slabs that failed as high as 7500 feet on a northeast aspect in the Flathead Range, and as low as 5800 feet on a southeast aspect in the Whitefish Range. These failed sometime last Wednesday during a warm, wet, and windy storm. The common theme with these avalanches is they failed in steep, rocky start zones with a shallower snowpack on weak layers near the ground. Although a hard surface crust currently makes it unlikely for you to trigger a persistent slab avalanche, you can play it safe by avoiding similar terrain: steep, rocky, and complex.

A quick-hitting storm will enter the region tomorrow morning, bringing a chance of 2 to 6 inches of new snow. The next problem child will likely be the weak snow sitting atop the hard surface crust. Today will be good day to hear what kind of surface conditions are out there. Feathery-looking surface hoar? Sugary-looking facets? Hard windboard or a bare crust? If you are not sure what you are seeing, snap a photo and send it in to us. We thank everyone for all the useful observations so far this season.