Quick report
Took a ride into the Southern Whitefish Range today to look at the crown of a recently triggered avalanche.
- Found said crown on SE Aspect at 6400'. Hard slab avalanche that failed at the facet layer above the 2/3 crust.
- Shaded aspects skied great with 4 inches of recent snow above a right side up snowpack.
- Any slope that has seen the sun has a thin melt freeze crust underneath the 4 inches of new snow.
- Wind affect was minimal.
- No other signs of recent avalanches or instabilities.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 30
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 4000'
- Recent Snowfall
- 10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
AM started out foggy, but clouds became broken to scattered as the day progressed. Winds were light out of the SW along ridgetops. Short periods of S-1 snow/graupel during our time in the field. Temps were above freezing when we got to around 4500'.
Snowpack
Results from pit at crown,
ECTX.
PST 45/100END down 80 cm.
CT 22 on the 2/3 crust.
- 8-10 cm of dry recent snow above 5000' on all aspects and elevations
- below 5k snow surface was no longer dry
Avalanche
- Size
- D2.5 R3
- Type
- HS
- Aspect
- SE
- Trigger
- AM
- Elevation
- 6200 ft
we visited the crown of a snowmobile triggered avalanche from 3-7.