Riding at Skyland

Today we went riding at Skyland in the Flathead Range. Our goal was to cover ground and look for recent avalanche activity and test wind slabs. 

• We found plenty of wind slabs, but saw only a handful of small recent avalanches involving them.  The most recent wind slabs are 4-6 inches thick, they are 4F hard and unreactive in our tests.  * we did not test northerly slopes in the upper elevations however* 
• Surface hoar was abundant between 5,000 and 6,000 feet in the morning.  By the time we left, however, the sun had beat it down on all but the most sheltered slopes. 
• In protected areas there was 12-16 inches of fantastic skiing and riding pow.  
• We saw evidence of wind slabs failing underneath rocky areas and steep ridgelines.  All of these seemed to be several days old and were mostly filled in and buried.