Quick report
The primary goal was to derime the Tunnel Ridge Weather Station and assess weak layers on solar aspects. We did feel comfortable skinning treed slopes with open spots up to or slightly over 30° on the ascent, while remaining conscious of any overhead hazard.
- There was no solar radiation today at our elevations and locations.
- Observed no signs of instability or recent avalanches. The visibility of surrounding terrain was limited.
- Several near-surface layers could be weak layers once buried:
- A rime crust (less than 1 cm thick) was present above 6200', buried by about 5 cm of recent snow. We found a soft layer of facets below it.
- At lower elevations, the near-surface snow is faceting.
- We also found 2 mm surface hoar on some upper elevation slopes.
- In both profiles we conducted, the top 1-1.25 m of the snowpack showed no propagation in tests.
- While we did feel comfortable stepping out into steeper terrain with today's findings and weather, we enjoyed cold, dry snow down to the highway.
Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Light southwesterly wind as we approached the ridge with overcast skies the majority of the day. It seemed we were near the top of the cloud deck, as we did experience a few minutes of sunshine while digging and noticed some broken skies on the return drive. Otherwise, we experienced a calm and cloudy day.
Snowpack
South Aspect:
- 6700', HS: 180cm
- ECTX
- CT3 SC down 5cm under rime crust x 2
- Right side up snowpack with thin interfaces between storm layers. This interfaces showed as planar breaks while prying on columns or with more than standard force.
- The greatest concern was the surface hoar (1-2mm) and rime crust with facets below. These have the potential to be future weak layers.
North Aspect:
- 5700', HS: ~160cm
- Right side up snowpack with mid-December rain crust and 12/7 surface hoar present, but did not fail or propagate during our test.
- ECTN 17 down 25cm on precipitation particles
Avalanche
We did not get the views of the Flathead crest we hoped for.