Professional Observation - Wahoo Creek, Flathead Range

Location Name: 
Professional Observation - Wahoo Creek, Flathead Range
Region: 
Flathead Range - Middle Fork Corridor
Date and time of observation: 
Mon, 01/16/2017 - 12:16
Location Map: 


Observation made by: Professional Observer
Snowpit Observations
More detailed information about the snowpack: 

On our tour today we dealt with cold temps in the valley bottom, warming as we climbed higher. The inversion seemed to be around 5500 feet.

While looking at the alpine on Nyack peak we were able to see copious amounts of crossloading of all the terrain above treeline. 

We dug pits on west and south facing aspects, both at roughly 6200 feet. 

-The south facing pit had a result of ECTN18@ 45 cm down.  This was a relatively soft wind slab(4F) on top of a thin layer of small facets. 

-The west facing pit had results of ECTN13@ 40 cm down, ECTN23@ 85 down and CT13@45 cm down.  The snowpack in the shade seemed to have surface hoar on the top, a few centimeters of very light new snow with a layer of degrading surface hoar below that. 

Any aspect that wasn't recieving direct sun seemed to be holding onto its surface hoar.  There was no wind and temperatures were in the high teens all day. 

Weather Observations
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Activity: 
Snowboarding