Swan Range

Travel with a partner, carry avalanche rescue gear and only expose one rider at a time in steep terrain. The snowpack is generally stable on most slopes. Steer around areas of wind-drifted snow if the surface cracks beneath you.

Today we’ll enjoy another day of generally stable conditions. I generally say this because evidence suggests that a Persistent Slab problem lingers in the Flathead Range, southern Glacier Park, and central to the northern Whitefish Range. 

The most recent reminder of this came yesterday (Wednesday) when Guy and I found a large hard slab avalanche on an upper-elevation Southeast aspect in the central Whitefish Range. This avalanche likely failed on a buried weak layer during a wind-loading event late last week. We ratcheted up our skepticism a notch and dug a pit on a northerly slope before committing to a steep climb on the same aspect. We did the same before descending a Southeast aspect and found a thinner and weaker snowpack that produced mixed results in snowpack tests. With this information, we elected to avoid likely trigger points as we descended one at a time.  

Observations from yesterday indicated light-blowing snow. With easterly winds increasing today, you might find isolated pockets of wind-drifted snow in unusual locations. Keep in mind that small surface slides have the potential to step down to buried weak layers and cause a larger avalanche.  Reports from the field also featured weak surface snow. Guy and I found a fresh and widespread crop of surface hoar in the central Whitefish. Cam found faceted surface snow in the Northern Swan.  Let us know what you find today, as an incoming storm will soon cover it. 

Thanks to Ted Steiner and Adam Clark with BNSF snow safety, as well as volunteer Tom Whipple for returning to the Tunnel Ridge weather station to replace the wind sensor.

Fireside/Snowpack postponed to Wednesday, March 15. Join us for a virtual evening combining two of our favorite community ed workshops: State of the Snowpack and Fireside Chats. FAC forecaster Cam Johnson will be presenting the State of the Snowpack to help you digest the conditions and plan your next trip. Fireside Chats are an intimate, conversational forum for open dialogue about human and avalanche factors. With skier/psychologist Dr. Sara Boilen as our facilitator, we dig into the tough decisions, tricky snow, and lessons learned from a recent near miss. No registration is needed, click here for Zoom. Event will begin at 6 p.m. Thank you to the Whitefish Convention & Visitors Bureau for supporting our community engagement programs.