Public observation - Marion Lake, Flathead Range

Location Name: 
Public observation - Marion Lake, Flathead Range
Region: 
Flathead Range - Bob Marshall Wilderness
Date and time of observation: 
Sat, 01/28/2017 - 13:00
Location Map: 


Observation made by: Public
Snowpit Observations
Snowpit or crown profile photo or graph: 
Any other comments about the observation or links to outside pages that have more info on the observation: 

On Saturday January 28th, we skinned on the Marion Lake Trail and hiked to the ridge just before the lake.  We did see a large wet slide ~1/4 mile from the trailhead that came within 10 feet of the skin track.  It looked to be at least a few days old.  It was a partly cloudy day, low winds under 10 mph, a Northwest aspect just over the Marion Lake ridge into Dickey Creek, a 35 degree slope and -5 C air temperature.  Where we dug our snow pit we had ~290 cm of base and our pit was 190 cm.  There was 14 cm of light snow on top.  We completed an Extended Column Test and had an ECT 26 with no propagation at 45 cm.  Temperature near the surface to 90 cm was -7 C, then -6 C at 120 cm, -5.5 C at 170 cm and -5 C at 190 cm.

Weather Observations
Blowing Snow: 
No
Cloud Cover: 
50% of the sky covered by clouds
Air temperature: 
Below Freezing
Wind Speed: 
Light (Twigs in motion)
Activity: 
Skiing
High Temp. (C): 
-5