Ridge walking

Went to the southern end of Glacier National Park to enjoy the sunshine and marginal skiing conditions. 

• Surface was refrozen and supportable at around 1030 AM on open slopes. Slopes with dense tree cover saw a superficial refreeze at best.
• Surface conditions were worked over by multiple days of wind and sun. Surface snow was moist by 1200 and wet by 1500 on southerly aspects. 
• Dug a pit on a SE slope at 5100 feet. ECTP21 and ECTP23 failing on faceted grains below the January 13 crust.
• Observed a few wet loose avalanches that turned into slab avalanches in nearby drainages from the past few days and potentially another one today. 
• During the day we found two large crowns. Both were at upper elevation and on a northeast and east aspect. 
• Found 2 fairly recent cornice falls. These did not trigger any slab avalanche below.
• On our way out we found an impressive persistent slab avalanche that failed on a southwest aspect at upper elevation. Crown was estimated to be 500 feet wide and 5 to 8 feet deep. See photo.