Crusts and Weak Layers in the Swan Range

Hiked up the Switchback trail and toured along the top of the ridge looking at the existing snowpack prior to the expected pattern change next week.

• The snowpack sturcture is simialr to what we've seen elsewhere in the region. Below about 5,700' we found the buried crust from the storm that occured around Thanksgiving with facets below and very low density snow that is faceting on top. Above that elevation we found that the crust is much less pronounced. We saw 5-10mm surface hoar widespread on the shady aspects. We found a series of thin, weak crusts with low density snow in between on solar aspects.
• The snowpack is generally stable for now. That will change if we get a slab on top.
• We stomped on wind slabs that developed on the W side of ridges on Wednesday and found them unreactive.
• We saw 2 recent sluffs, D1 in size, on sunny aspects in very steep terrain. 1 was skier triggered and 1 released naturally.