Avalanche forecast

Flathead Range & Glacier NP

Flathead Avalanche Center
View on map

Avalanche danger

Sun
Alpine
1 · Low
Treeline
1 · Low
Below
1 · Low
Open full map
Out of date — this forecast expired 6 years ago. You’re viewing past conditions, not the current bulletin.

Highlights

As you climb higher in elevation and onto steeper slopes, you increase your chances of finding the isolated slopes where avalanche hazards linger. Be suspicious of slopes steeper than 35 degrees where there's no hard, thick crust within a few inches of the snow surface. These are generally above about 7000 feet elevation. Adhering to safe travel protocols - one at a time, eyes on your partners, away from terrain traps, always with rescue gear - can give you a margin for mistakes.

Avalanche problems

  • Persistent Slabs

    • Alpine
    • Treeline
    • Below treeline
    Likelihood
    Unlikely
    Size
    2

    Isolated slopes harbor slabs sitting on surface hoar or facets near crusts that can still collapse under the weight of a person or snowmachine. Sticking to slopes less than about 35 degrees is the most straightforward way to avoid these snares. In steeper terrain, standard safe travel practices can reduce - but not eliminate  - the possibility and potential consequences of triggering a slab. These practices include choosing slopes that aren't above terrain traps, and picking lines that weave around likely trigger points. Digging into the snowpack and testing it can provide critical information - if a slab shears cleanly and propagates in a test, assume a similar structure exists on nearby slopes and write them off. 

Avalanche Discussion

If your mom wandered around the mountains today, you'd warn her to avoid steep slopes at upper elevations where the stout crust from Jan. 13 wasn't present. "Mom," you might say, "A few slopes harbor persistent weak layers that might still collapse under a person's weight. Surface hoar buried 1 to 2 feet below the surface. Or in areas where the snowpack is thin, sugary snow near the ground or that early December crust." 

Your mom, like most Moms, might immediately jump to the worst case scenario, the fact that any triggered slides would be large enough to bury her and her friends. 

"No, Mom, we don't want that to happen. If you're going to get into steep terrain, stick to slopes that are concave or have a similar pitch from top to bottom - no convexities where the slope steepens abruptly. And slopes where the runout is clean. No gullies, trees, talus, those terrain traps we talked about."

Of course, your mom would need solid riding skills to edge her sled in or on the Jan. 13 crust, or to link turns on the new carbon fiber race skis Santa brought her.

The avalanche danger is Low. Isolated avalanche hazards still exist. If you wouldn't want your mom riding a slope, you probably shouldn't either. 

Regions covered