Winter above 5500'

Day off tour into the Flathead Range to seek out wintery conditions and cold snow. We found just that above roughly 5500'.

• Roadside elevation up to 5500' we found an inch of new, moist snow above a superficial crust. Below this crust the snowpack is isothermic.
• Above 5500' new and recent snow accumulation quickly grew to 3 to 6 inches, and up to 12 inches around 6000 feet.
• Two test pits at roughly 6000' revealed propagating results on a north facing aspect, and non propagating results on a south facing aspect.
• We took advantage of numerous test slopes above 5500' and were getting isolated cracking around our skis. A few cracks exceeded 10 feet in length in slightly wind affected terrain on northerly facing slopes. 
• We triggered one D1 wind slab on the descent in a crossloaded gully at roughly 5700'.

Based off our test results and anticipating a more supportable crust, we decided to ski southerly facing aspects today. We felt comfortable skiing steep terrain one at a time.