Different Aspects, Different Problems

We found that the avalanche hazard varied by aspect and elevation in the northern Flathead Range today.

• A round of small to medium-sized loose dry sluffs released this morning on east and southeast-facing chutes as the sun kissed the new snow. By mid-day we found the snow on those aspects was moist and we could trigger small wet loose avalanches on test slopes. The same steep rocky chutes where we had seen the dry sluffs in the morning (southeast-facing) had run again, and larger, with what looked like wet snow in the afternoon.
• We tested the 4-8 inches of dry storm snow we found on northerly slopes at middle elevations. We got a few small results with ski cuts on test slopes. We got no propagating test results in any of our snow pits at the same elevations. We did get the new snow to sluff easily on shady slopes as we descended. Dry sluffs sliding on a buried crust could have been a real problem in big, steep terrain.
• We saw several large dry sluffs and one large storm slab avalanche on very steep northeast-facing slopes from Mt. Penrose and Nyack. We assumed these likely ran last night while it was still snowing.
• Clouds were holding in the heat on northerly slopes and the skiing turned form excellent powder above 5,500 feet, to hot pow above 4,500 feet, and even shady aspects were moist at the lowest elevations as we left. We triggered roller balls and saw some harmless natural wet loose sluffs on low northerly slopes by 3 pm.