Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
• Great visibility, above freezing temps, no wind at our high point of 6700' • We climbed the E ridge above Pinnacle Rd and descended the skin track. Skiing was good above 5600' (recycled pow) • Old (wet loose) and a somewhat recent slide (storm slab) were observed in the alpine terrain of the Flathead range. • Coverage is scant on S aspects (up to 6500') • Little in the way of obvious instability. No surface hoar observed but the recent snow (12/23) is faceting above the 12/19 crust. Isolated windslabs (8") (4F) were experienced along ridgeline. Shooting cracks were limited to the skin track and didn't exceed more than skis length.
Weather
- Air Temp
- Temp inversion
- Cloud Cover
- clear
Avalanche
- Size
- D2
- Aspect
- NE
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 7200 ft
Observed one crown from last Saturdays "sneaker-storm" in the alpine terrain of Paola Creek at 7200' on a NE aspect. On 12/23 Tunnel Ridge Snow recorded 11" of snow (one 3"/hour rate). Given the partially filled in crown I would estimate the release to have occurred during this storm.