More Than Bargained For

Zigzagged up a ridge looking for the bottom elevation of the persistent slab problem near the southern edge of Glacier Park. Ended up seeing more than expected.

• Found two, separate, very weak snowpack structures at different elevations and on different aspects.
• Between 5,700 ft and 6,000 ft the weakest snow structure I found was on southwest aspects. It's large, loose, sugary facets under the mid-January crust. The crust was not ice at these elevations, but had degraded to the point where you can poke into it with your finger. Consistent propagating snowpack tests (easy and moderate force) and a small collapse under my skis on this layer. On these aspects the snowpack is shallow because prevailing west winds generally strip the top off.
• The crust becomes a 1 cm thick ice layer at 6,000 ft. Above there, the weakest snow structure is on northeast aspects where loose, large facets rest atop the crust. I gingerly kicked some cornices above test slopes that broke widely on the facets, but didn't trigger the dense, hard, stubborn wind slabs below. An intrepid group just ahead of me stomped on some cornices above a larger, steeper slope at 6,200 ft. On their third try, a dishwasher sized cornice triggered a large persistent slab avalanche. 

Both parties decided to ski powder laps on the broad, low-angled, southeast-facing ridge.