Gotta pay to play

Another day of crust and carnage in the Flathead Range.
 

• Observed 20+ slides from the 1/13 cycle in the East Fork of Tunnel Creek.
• The largest slide will be entered in the avalanche tab, but I also created a map to convey the overall activity. This map shows approximate slide locations and size based on review of my photos. Numerous other small slides that occured may not have showed up on this map. The red lines on the map represent glide cracks that were observed also.
• One notable pattern was that many of the slides initiated at around 6000' in elevation.
• Any activity above 6000' was relatively small. Most of which has been obscured by wind and new snow at this point, but I believe most slides up high were loose dry and small wind slabs.
• The Glide Cracks observed were all on East or SE facing terrain.
• We also observed one natural (while it was happening) during the day in the upper West Fork of Tunnel Creek. The avalanche was a large loose dry that appeared to be triggered by a chuck of ice or rock flaking off of some extreme terrain. Not sure about the exact trigger, but it made a large BOOM and sent a fast moving loose dry slough (D2) that ran at least 1200'. It kept sloughing out of sight, so I am not sure how far in total in ended up going. Judging by the steepness of the terrain below, it could have run another 1000' easily.
• Our high point for the day was 8200'. Skiing conditions were quite good between 8200' and 6700'. I would decribe it as facted wind buff. Affected by wind but not ruined. 
• There was a stiff price of admission today though... stiff, scrapey, and downright dangerous. Below 6700, anything steeper than 25 was suspect for harboring the death crust. Especially firm on ribs and rollovers. We opted to bootpack downhill (~6000'-5600') at one point, for fear of sliding out of control into a steep gully. Would expect this to be a problematic bed surfaces for future avalanches, that is if anything adheres to it ever again in the first place.
• Weather was pleasant all day. Cool temps, and mostly clear skies. No wind below the ridgeline and a calm wind from the west on ridgetop.
• Surface hoar and near surface facets were present at all elevations, especially prevalent in sheltered terrain.
• I have included some photos of the 1/13 carage to complement the map as well. Safe travels.