Quick report
Spent the day above the inversion with stable conditions, nominal wind, and great snow. -The stratus deck hovered around 5500' all day. Above that, the sun was taking it's toll on South aspects; rollerball activity was noted in the 6500' band on the truest of S aspects. Above that and along ridgeline, the surface stayed cool. -Rain from last week washed away the base below 5500' (snow intercept from trees kept totals from the recent snowfall to about 2-4"), above 5500' there is a decent base with 6-10" of powder which made for easy skinning. -Wind was non-existent, but around noon I noticed flagging on the bigger peaks of the Flathead range and soon was experiencing winds strong enough to transport snow, although minimal. -Sloughing within the recent snow was observed in steep, alpine terrain and ran moderate distances. -I dug a pit at 7300' on an E aspect. Snow depth in this leeward location was 190cm (!) -Within the recent snow (~40cm) there was a friable M/F crust (~1cm) near the surface. Not really sure when or how it was formed, but it existed everywhere I travelled above 6000' -The structure looked really good. 40cm of recent snow well bonded to a knife-hard rain crust 3" thick. -Underneath the rain crust is a conglomerate of saturated, but now frozen grains that was hard to dig into. -I probed a more representative slope and measured 90cm at 7000' -I skied an East aspect and experienced wonderful conditions (the friable M/F was hardly noticeable and quite surfy) -Stomping cornices along ridgeline produced no results and no surface hoar was observed throughout the tour. -Overall a great day out with plenty of good snow to be found in areas above 6500' that aren't heavily timbered