February sure feels like April...

A good overnight re-freeze and cooler temperatures set up a strong melt-freeze crust over the snowpack in the Flathead. Today, the crust did not break down except on steep solar-facing slopes near rocks. We felt comfortable getting into steep alpine and treeline slopes from an avalanche perspective, but the slide-for-life risk is real! Below treeline we found surface hoar growing on the crust which could come into play when the next storm arrives, maybe this weekend? We didn’t see any new avalanches. Temperatures got to 5 degrees. The wind was light from the south but not moving any snow about.