Quick report
- Cracking
- isolated
Today we went up into the Flathead Range to get a gauge on the amount of dry snow on southerly aspects ahead of the upcoming warming event.
- Slabs of drifted snow were sensitive to triggers. These ranged from 4 to 10 inches thick. Slabs were failing on facets above a crust or windboard.
- The top 4 inches of snow was loose and dry. New snow below that was stiffened by strong south and west winds.
- There is a crust factory on south aspects. The two that stood out were 1 and 3 feet below the surface. Both of these crusts had soft facets resting on top. These may produce Wet Slab avalanches once melt-water reaches them.
The upcoming warming event will certainly complicate travel. Fingers crossed for overnight refreezes.
Wind drifts were sensitive to our weight. We were able to trigger slabs up to a foot thick on small wind whales.Weather
- Cloud Cover
- broken
- Wind Loading
- previous
- Recent Snowfall
- 10
- Snow Avail For Transport
- small smounts
Broken sky cover in the morning. Overcast in the afternoon. Freezing levels rose mid-afternoon with light snow.
Snowpack
South aspect at 7k. Roughly a foot of dry snow rests over a faceted crust. The early February crust is just shy of 3 feet below the surface. The facets above were softer here than in many other places I've dug.
Avalanche
- Size
- D1
- Type
- SS
- Aspect
- NW
- Trigger
- AS
- Elevation
- 6500 ft
We got a few very small slabs to pop on wind whales during the ascent.