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Location Name: Forecaster Observation - Flathead Range Observation date: Wednesday, December 29, 2021 - 16:00	Is this an Avalanche Observation: Yes

Observation made by: Forecaster

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Quick Observation

Today we went into the Flathead Range to confirm danger ratings and try to sus out previously formed wind slabs.

Low elevations are starting to fill in nicely with supportable coverage.
Observed two debris piles from natural avalanches. One appears to be ~2 days old and the other likely failed during the strong wind event on the 22nd.
No shooting cracks or collapses. Ski cuts on very steep rollovers produced no results.
Calm winds most of the day. We observed very light blowing snow on a ridge at about 6500'.
We dug a pit to the ground on a northwest aspect and found no alarming weak layers and had no results with tests.

We felt comfortable skiing sustained steep slopes one at a time.

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:

Travel Details

Region:

Flathead Range - Middle Fork Corridor

Activity:

Skiing

Snowpack Details

Snowpack and Weather Details:

Terrain

Elevation of observation:

3500-5000 ft

5000-6500 ft

Aspect(s) of observation:

New Snow in the past 24 hours:

1.00in.

Total Snow Depth:

275

More comments about the snowpack and weather:

The morning started off clear and transitioned to overcast around noon. Surfaces are COLD and faceting. A pit dug on a NW aspect at 6000 feet showed stable results. Found the basal faceted crust 8.5 feet down from the surface! It appears to be getting crushed between two crusts.

Blowing Snow:

None

Wind Speed:

Calm (No air motion)

Air temperature:

Below Freezing

Sky Cover:

Mostly Cloudy (BRK)

Avalanche Details

Avalanche Details:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Monday, December 27, 2021 - 12:00

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

Unknown

More information or comments about the avalanche:

Suspect a soft wind slab. The debris pile was wide, but appeared to be shallow.

Trigger

Trigger:

unknown

Terrain

Start Zone Slope Angle:

Aspect:

Northwest

Starting Elevation:

near-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D1 Relatively harmless to people.

Avalanche Length (Vertical Run):

400ft.

Avalanche Width (Average width):

200ft.

Avalanche Location:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Wednesday, December 22, 2021 - 12:00

Number of avalanches:

Avalanche Type:

Soft Slab

Failure Plane/Weak Layer:

New/old snow interface

More information or comments about the avalanche:

We could make out debris buried under recent snow. We both suspect it occurred during the strong wind event on the 22nd when other naturals were observed in nearby drainages.

Trigger

Trigger:

natural

Terrain

Start Zone Slope Angle:

Aspect:

Northeast

Starting Elevation:

above-treeline

Size

Destructive Size:

D2 Could bury, injure, or kill a person.

Relative Size:

R2 Small

Avalanche Location:

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