Quick report
Beautiful day and great riding in the Swan Range:
- It appears the southern end of the advisory area was far less impacted by last week's impressive winds
- We found minimal signs of recent wind affect along an exposed ridge
- Snow pits revealed several weak layers in the top 1-2 feet
- These layers produced mixed results in stability tests
- Middle- and upper-elevation solar aspects stayed dry well into the afternoon
- Lower-elevation surface snow transitioned to moist throughout the day, but no new roller ball activity
- No obvious signs of instability
Despite generally benign-looking conditions, we were still unwilling to trust buried weak layers. We avoided steep and rocky slopes that were shaded from the sun.
No obvious signs of instabilityWeather
- Cloud Cover
- few
- Wind Loading
- none
- Snow Avail For Transport
- moderate amounts
Light SW winds. Lenticular clouds formed over the Missions during the afternoon.
Snowpack
@ 7000' NE aspect: HS = 160cm, ECTP 29 down 50 cm on graupel/decomposing fragments, ECTN 29 down 50cm on same layer, CTM16 (SC) down 25 on rimey precip particles, CTH22 (SP) down 70 cm on Facets (1-2mm) within the 2/3 crust complex.
@7200' SW aspect: HS = 200cm, ECTN 29 down 35cm on graupel/decomposing fragments, CTH22 down 35cm on same layer, CTH26 down 45cm on small rounding facets.