Skiing in the central and northern Whitefish Range this weekend and found stable but variable snow conditions at both Red Meadow Pass and Hornet Lookout.
- Northerly sheltered slopes above 5000' held ~10cm of fast-skiing well-developed near surface facets generally capped with 5mm+ surface hoar above the old supportable crusts
- All open terrain was found to harbor variable wind skins, wind crusts, or wind slabs (5-20cm) that produced no shooting cracks but made skiing rather unpleasant
- Friday and Saturday had temperatures rise into the mid-20s, calm to light westerly winds, and outstanding visibility
- Yesterday we found 5-10cm+ of new snowfall (mostly rimed stellars) atop the old facet/surface hoar up to ~7300' which only resulted in small predictable sluffs in steeper terrain (>35*)
- We noticed no signs of slab formation even with more sustained light to moderate westerly winds and enjoyed more protected powder skiing... but expect those conditions to change rapidly with the incoming moisture
