Quick report
Traveled into the East Cabinet Mountains to gather baseline snowpack information. Ascended the Indian Head trail from 3700 feet to 7250 feet and returned the same way.
During the past few weeks, mild temperatures and periodic bouts of rain have decimated much of this season's snowpack below 6000 feet. And even more so on south facing slopes, where bare ground is exposed as high as 6800 feet. I hiked to 6000 feet on an east facing ridgeline before transitioning from hiking boots to skis. Coverage quickly improved with about 10 inches at 6000 feet to 35 inches at 6800 feet. The snowpack is presently isothermic and moist throughout. I dug a pit at 6800 feet and discovered a layered snowpack with subtle, but worriesome, hardness steps surrounding three different buried rain crusts. Pit graph with details attached.
No signs of instabilityWeather
- Air Temp
- 36
- Cloud Cover
- scattered
- Wind Loading
- none
- Rain Elevation
- 7300 feet+
- Recent Snowfall
- 0
- Snow Avail For Transport
- none
Light rain in the morning until about 10:00am. No additional precipitation fell during the remainder of the day. Patchy valley fog and thick stratus deck at about 5500 feet. The cloud deck began to break down by early evening, with mostly clear skies over Libby by 5:00pm. Light NE winds with moderate gusts near ridgetop. Air temp was 36ºF at 1:00pm, measured at 6800 feet.
Snowpack
Shaded Aspects (North/East)
• Below 5000 ft- No snow
• 5000-6000 ft- Negligible snow cover
• 6000-7250 ft- 1-3 feet snowpack
Solar Aspects (South/West)
• Below 5800 ft- No snow
• Above 5800ft- Patchy, thin, and fragmented snow cover
• In some locations, open south facing terrain had continuous bare ground to 6800 ft.
Snowpit data gathered at 6800 ft NE facing in sheltered glades
• HS 88cm (35 inches)
• Layers of concern- 3 discernible rain crust surrounded by moist rounding facets
• Isothermic and moist grains to the ground
• Upper snowpack was mostly supportable on skis, but still moist from recent rainfall
• ECTX
Avalanche
none observed