Generally stable, but weak snowpack in the Flathead Range

Toured up Rescue Creek and down Skiumah drainage monitoring weak layer formation and looking for new instabilities.  

• We saw debris from 5 recent D1-1.5 sluffs on E and SE aspects of Mt. Penrose that ran from steep, rocky chutes above 6,600' in the past 24hrs. We watched 1 small sluff cascade down a similar chute (SE aspect) just as the sun hit the start zone. We avoided traveling below that terrain on our ascent. We descended on slopes steeper than 40 degrees and easily triggered sluffs up to 4" deep, D1 in size, using sluff management techniques.   
• Previous wind loading from both E and W winds yesterday and the previous night was isolated to small drifts at ridgetops. We saw mostly shallow, localized cracking or unreactive results from stomping on drifts. From 10 feet away, we remotely triggered one very small wind slab ~10" deep x 4' wide.   
• The snowpack is generally weak. We found a melt-freeze crust below the recent low-density snow up to 5,700'. This new snow on top of the crust is faceting.  Above this older rain line, the same "Thanksgiving" interface transitioned to preserved surface hoar and/or sun crust, depending on aspect, with faceted snow below.  See attached snow pit.