Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
We toured east of Whitefish Mountain Resort to take a look at how winds were affecting the surface snow and wind slab development.
- Evidence of strong southwest winds was masked by a layer of fresh snow, which was a nice surprise during the first part of the day.
- South-facing slopes had a supportable 1-inch sun crust, that was stiffened by recent winds. Frozen roller balls were observed on steep southernly slopes.
- Chunky tree bombs (clumps of snow falling off trees or clumps of snow being blown off trees) made skiing a little more sporty.
- The top 6 to 8 inches of cornices were sensitive to human weight, however, the underlying dense snow building the base of cornices was stubborn to even the most enthusiastic stomps.
- No propagating results in our snow pit. Please see snowpack sections for details.
- The sun made an appearance for approximately an hour, which was enough to stiffen the soft snow for a leg-burner last ski down to the groomers.
Weather
- Air Temp
- 25
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- light
- Recent Snowfall
- 1-2 inches
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Light winds with a few gusts, followed by an hour of sun, a brief shower of snow, and full spring sunshine at the parking lot by 3 pm.
Snowpack
Snow profile and pit on NE aspect at 6700 feet. The mid-January crust was estimated to be buried 140 cm below the surface. We did not get propagating results in our snowpack tests. ECTN26 on layer 30cm below the surface. PST 100/100 on that same layer. Please see attached file for details. Thanks, Zach Armstrong!