Quiet Day in the Flathead

Traveled into the Flathead range hoping to learn more about the conditions at upper elevations. 

• We encountered no cracking or collapsing though we did have propagation in several snowpack tests on a Northeast aspect at upper elevations
• We found no buried surface hoar
• We did find 3-10 inches of recent low-density snow as we traveled through mid and upper elevations
• The recent snow sits atop a variety of firm surfaces
• We were unsurprised to find that several loose dry avalanche had run naturally in steep terrain on a wide range of aspects

We felt comfortable skiing planar slopes around 35 degrees in areas with a deep snowpack.  We avoided potential trigger points like shallow rocky areas and convexities.