Quick report
Mostly clear skies offered vantage of the avalanche country surrounding the McDonald Valley. Expected to see a good bit of recent activity, but only observed one slide on Mount Cannon. Recent wind blown snow may have erased the evidence of others from this cycle. Established a new Beacon Checker site at the Lake McDonald Lodge parking area/ Sperry Trailhead/ Going-to-the-Sun Road access. We thank our partners, Flathead Nordic Backcountry Patrol, for their donation and maintenance of this equipment in the park this winter. We hope that this will serve as a convenient reminder to all backcountry users to check their party's transceivers prior to entering the avalanche country accessed from Lake McDonald. Spotted a recent avalanche on the south face of Mount Cannon.
Weather
- Air Temp
- -25
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- light
- Rain Elevation
- 0
- Recent Snowfall
- 2
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Clear, Calm, and Cold. Winds were calm on the valley floor and appeared to be light up high in this portion of the forecast area. Minimal active wind transported snow observed today on the high peaks of this valley. However the south facing slopes of Mount Stanton were visibly rippled from afar and textured from recent winds this weekend.
Snowpack
Roadside observation. 22cm in open areas on the valley floor (3100'). 10cm in forested areas at this same elevation. weak and faceted from the recent arctic weather.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1.5 R1
- Type
- L
- Aspect
- S
- Trigger
- N
- Elevation
- 7300 ft
The observed avalanche is expected to have run sometime during the most recent storm. Generally appeared to be a dry loose avalanche, but also seemed as though there may have been a faint crown near the top of the bowl/base of the summit cliffs. Poor image quality.