Link Mountain

Today we went to work on the Link Weather Station in the northern Whitefish Range. We traveled on east, south, and north aspects up to 7200 feet. 

• We found NO soft snow for our skiing and riding pleasure. Solar aspects have the setup for good corn riding if the sun cooperates.
• Faceted crusts make up the upper snowpack. Crusts varied from supportable to breakable. Skinning was actually challenging due to how slick the surface crust is. 
• The upper snowpack is ripe for the next persistent slab avalanche problem when and if we ever get snow again. 
• There is an impressive glide crack on Whitefish mountain. We also noticed a glide release at the head of Hay Creek on a slope that typically produces glide avalanches most years. 

We observed no signs of instability with one minor exception. On our descent we triggered a very small slab of drifted snow. It was only about 3 inches thick and propagted approximately 20 feet wide. This slab was harmless, small, and an isolated event, but paints a clear picture of what is to come with any new snow. We felt very comfortable skiing in steep terrain. 

Triggered one very small slab of drifted snow above a layer of sugary facets.