Quick report
Skied up road #1651 on patchy coverage. Generally speaking, snow totals in the valley bottom (6") withered away as we climbed onto solar prone aspects where coverage became scant. In sheltered, N facing terrain on the road, snow depths were around 8-10". •Recent warm and wet (rain) weather has taken it's toll on our snowpack (despite the melt, the snowpack, once frozen, will be strong) •During the AM hours a thin, breakable M/F crust capped an isothermal snowpack from a slight refreeze overnight •The afternoon brought wet, mushy snow conditions and older pinwheels were observed from recent warmup on the cutbanks above the road •At Patrol Ridge repeater site (~6800') snow depth was variable at 8-12" and consisted of moist, cohesive grains •Brief views of nearby alpine terrain allowed us to observe a "deep" consistent, continuous snowpack above 7000' with no signs of wet loose in these locations. As the storm front moved in, wind transport was occurring on higher peaks such as Baptiste along the Flathead Range. Recent, nominal wet-loose slides were occurring on solar aspects around 6500-7000'. Above this elevation band slopes looked "clean".
Weather
- Air Temp
- At or above freezing throughout