Public Observation - Apgar Range/North End/Sub Ridge East of the Main Ridge

Location Name: 
Public Observation - Apgar Range/North End/Sub Ridge East of the Main Ridge
Region: 
Glacier National Park - Apgar Range
Date and time of observation: 
Wed, 12/30/2015 - 12:00
Location Map: 


Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
Snowpack photos: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

The Camas Creek Road is open until January 1 and is then is gated for the remainder of the winter season, making early season access easy, such as the Huckleberry Lookout Trail.

Skied southerly aspects on the east side of the Apgar divide, from about 6400', down to about 5200'.  HS (height of snow) at lower elevations were in the 120cm range and higher. Below the ridge line HS was about 190, with the the ridge tops a bit thinner.  Going any lower turned into an Elk Weed bash.

We saw no signs of any avalanche activity or warning signs.  Snow surface was unconsolidated.  Top 100+/-cms contained several density layer changes, but no slab formation.  There was some soft slab formation along the ridge tops.  The crust from the past rain event (Dec. 9) was variable, and was breaking down, but this depended on elevation and the depth of the snowpack.  We didn't perform any stability test, just poked around.

Seemed like the Apgar Range was spared any wind activity in the past couple of weeks, and the cloud cover has preseved the snow quality on south, s east and s west aspects.

Skiing was excellent.

Weather Observations
Cloud Cover: 
100% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Precipitation: 
Snow
Accumulation rate: 
Less than 1 in. per hour
Activity: 
Skiing
Precip Rate: 
S -1; very light snowfall, trace to 0.5cm/hour
High Temp. (C): 
18F
Low Temp. (C): 
12F