And So It Begins

Went for a little early season ramble in the Lake McDonald area on this lovely fall day.

• We hiked up to 6300 feet before switching to skis. The snow cover above 6000 feet is continuous, but it's only about 10 inches deep and not enough to cover the brush and forest litter until you get to about 6500. 
• We found small wind slabs above about 6800 feet on south and east aspects - the result of north and west winds. These slabs were soft and only 2 to 5 inches deep to our turnaround point of 7100 feet. Snow waves on the surrounding peaks make me think that these slabs could be bigger in favored alpine terrian. 
• From 6000 to 6500 feet there's a crust on the surface from recent rain, at least where we traveled. The snow underneath is dry and low density down to another crust near the ground (probably buried around the 13th). There's wet, dense snow below that to the ground.
• Above 6500 the top foot of the snowpack is very soft and low density above the 10/13 crust. In favored areas, the top few inches are a little denser and can crack around you thanks to recent winds.

We skied about 900 vertical feet, very carefully, over logs and rocks before changing back into our hiking shoes. What snow there was below 6000 feet melted quickly throughout the day.