Not a bad introduction

With an incoming storm, Mark and I traveled out to the Southern Lewis Range in Glacier to get a sense of wind loading and surface snow conditions. What we found...

• Blowing snow was evident as we traveled, but winds coming from the SW were not enough to create slabs of concern. Though some cohesive, drifted snow was obvious on the lee side of mid-elevation slopes, we had difficulty finding slabs that might propagate. 
• Snowpit observations exposed a sun crust 13 cm below light snow at mid-elevations. This brittle crust was present at high elevations buried below 21 cm of snow. For a more detailed snow observation, view the snow observation tab.
• Snow was soft and light and made for easy travel conditions and some great skiing off the E face of 6996. A slight surface crust was apparent but did not influence turn quality.
• Surface snow showed some signs of faceting, so the danger may increase as this interface gets loaded. It will be beneficial to pay attention here and dig hand pits to see how this new snow interacts with the old.