Mount Brown

Location Name: Mt. Brown, Glacier Natl. Park Observation date: Saturday, December 9, 2017 - 22:30	Is this an Avalanche Observation: No

Observation made by: Public

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Quick Observation

Went for a climb up Mt. Brown via the "Right-hand Gully." Found mostly stable snow. The Thanksgiving rain crust was present all the way to the summit and for the most part was supportable.
A D2 sized wet loose avalanche had run to about 5000 elevation down the gully sometime back during the late November warm up/rainy period (photo).
On shady aspects above 6000 feet, the snow on top of the Thanksgiving crust was composed mostly of facets and ranged from 10-30 cm deep on the NW face to 30-50 cm deep on the N ridge/NE face. But in some locations the wind had scoured the snow down to the Thanksgiving crust.
On sunny aspects above the stratus cloud deck the snow was moist and a handful of wet loose avalanches had slid recently on the south face of Mt. Brown (photo) and on other southerly faces in the surrounding terrain.
Found plenty of old windslabs above 6000 feet but these were completely unreactive when stomped on except for one tabletop-sized slab on the SW ridge. This failed on a layer of facets above the Thanksgiving crust (photo).
On the NE face above Avalanche Lake between 4500-6500 feet there was also a nice crop of surface hoar, 3-7 mm in size, on top of the snowpack.

Snowpack, Avalanche, Weather Images:

Travel Details

Region:

Glacier National Park - Southern Lewis Range

Route Description:

Climbed NW face up what is often referred to as "Right Gully" then onto the SW ridge. Continued to summit via ridge then descended the N/NE face and down to Avalanche Lake.

Activity:

Climbing or Mountaineering

Snowpack Details

Snowpack and Weather Details:

Terrain

Elevation of observation:

3500-5000 ft

5000-6500 ft

Above 6500 ft

Aspect(s) of observation:

Avalanche Details

Avalanche Details:

Date and Time of Avalanche:

Saturday, December 9, 2017 - 22:30

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